


The LeMonte Archives: The Trial

by Fuffins



Category: No Fandom
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-02
Updated: 2019-09-02
Packaged: 2020-10-05 07:28:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 39
Words: 86,906
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20485121
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fuffins/pseuds/Fuffins





	1. Chapter 1

“All in,” I said, slowly pushing the last of my coins to the center of the table.

I sat on one side of a circular table. Flanking me and across from me where three humans, none of which I knew or had spoken to before tonight, but we were 'friends' now. We had spent the last few hours together, playing cards and drinking. Of course, we had been betting money, and I had been counting cards.

Had I counted correctly? Of course, there was no way I could forget this, it was fifty two cards in total. I would win this round for sure, even if I had a few drinks in me.

Alcohol hits me a little differently than it hits a human. I can hold my alcohol, no problem, I've got enough of a tolerance. The main thing it does is, well, not exactly slow me down. Maybe it more speeds me up, makes me miss a few thoughts here and there. That's a bit of a problem when hiding certain cards in your sleeves, and counting the rest. I couldn't afford to miss anything, but I was sure I had counted correctly. I couldn't afford to have counted wrong, so I didn't. It was that simple, right?

A set of numbers hit me when my hands returned to the few cards in front of me. Two, three, where was the fourth ace? I lost it.

I ran through my most recent memories. Right, I had two, the man on my right had one, and the last one... Was it in the deck? It hadn't been dealt had it? I was running on luck, I'm not a very lucky person, and I had just put all my money on the line.

And I lost it all.

Of course. The man on my right had two aces as well. My hand was good, but not good enough. He won.

I sighed and rubbed my eyes. I was an idiot for running ahead like this. I should have made sure I knew where all the cards where before I put all my money in. I could have been more patient, I had another few hours before anyone went home. These men were rough, they did some kind of physical labor, worked all day, and drank all night. I knew they would be here long enough to have a few more drinks and laughs. But not me, I was out of money.

“Nice playing with you.” I muttered, probably in their language, standing up and scratching my head.

Halfway to the door I realized my mistake. I had been hiding cards in my robe sleeves, I knew this, and they would all fall out when I stood up, also something I knew. Most of them were in my sleeves, near my elbows, and as I stood my hands were down by my sides. With any luck, any at all, I could be out the door before anybody realized a thing.

I heard chairs scraping against the wood floor a moment after I heard cards hitting the ground. Yeah, no luck tonight. I doubt they would take kindly to me cheating, even if I had lost all my money.

So I ran.

I'm not very good with physical confrontation, mainly because I'm not very strong, or very fast, or very good at fighting. Physically, I'm just not very good. I usually ended up on the receiving end of confrontation, which was a smart-ass way of saying I got beat up a lot. After a long time of this I decided I'd rather take my chances running than simply stand around and let myself get beat up.

Truth be told, not very good physically applies to running, too, even when I didn't have alcohol in my system. I wasn't very far from the bar when a hand grabbed my tail, perks of being a demon, and yanked. The epitome of grace, I fell flat on my face, and let out a sound I prefer not to make as my face slammed to the ground and I heard something, maybe my nose, crack.

So instead of being beat up in a bar, I got beat up in an alley.

Now, I can handle pain better than your average demon, the fortunate side effect of dealing with it a little too often. I just can't dish much out. In a fight, I was pretty much useless, but this wasn't a fight. If anything, it was just me lying on the ground, curled into a ball, while three burly men beat the life out of me. Bleeding out in an alley wasn't how I had planned on ending my night, but hey, I just love surprises.

“Hey!” Someone called out. Male? Female? I couldn't tell, I was a little dizzy from blood loss and a few kicks to the head. All I could tell was that it was someone new.

But I did hear the sound of boots hitting the ground quickly, probably this new someone sprinting forward, and the three men who had been kicking me stop and walk away. Thank the stars.

Whoever had come to my rescue had been intimidating enough to stop three humans from killing me, but not send them running for their lives. Hopefully, it was someone nice.

“You okay?” The voice asked. They were young, I could tell that much from their slightly high pitched voice, but I couldn't really see who they were. In fact, I couldn't see anything right now.

“Thanks,” I coughed, spitting up blood. A dark violet, I knew the color all too well, far from the human red.

“Tch,” the voice replied, the last thing I heard before I blacked out.


	2. Chapter 2

I opened my eyes slowly. I had been in an alley, but I wasn't there anymore. I was in a bed, but it wasn't mine, I didn't have a real bed. And if what I did have could be considered a bed, there was no way it would be this soft or warm, and the blankets wouldn't be this heavy. I had fur, I almost never needed a blanket.

But this blanket was comfortable. I was comfortable. A soft pillow beneath my head, a warm place to sleep. If this was what I got for getting beat up in the middle of some small town just off the edge of the map, then I should cheat at cards more often.

I sat up slowly, immediately taking back my thoughts.

Nope, head hurts, stop. My vision blurred, fading to black entirely, and I gasped for breath as my head fell back down, landing on the soft pillow. Stars above, this pillow was nice.

Movement on my left caught my attention. Very slowly I turned my head. Sitting in a small wooden chair was a young boy, slumped forward, sleeping. I carefully lifted myself and set my back against the wall behind the bed, looking around.

I was in a simple wooden bedroom, but it was big. There were two desks on either side of the room, pushed up against the walls, all made of the same wood. There were a few candles around, some of which were lit, despite the nearby crystal which would normally provide light. No candles near the bookshelf, though, probably a good thing. But there was a candle next to the boy in the chair, which had probably been taken from the desk without a chair or candle.

I looked at the boy. He must have been very young, he had very soft features, candle light dancing playfully along his face. He looked tanned, he must get out a lot, and very peaceful. But something wasn't right about him.

He was wearing all black clothes, which was a little odd. Most boys this age wore at least a little color in their outfits, I rarely saw a human walking around without a little blue or green in their outfit, even if they were young. He was also wearing a cloak, the classic type with a hood and everything, one that went down all the way to his legs. But his cloak wasn't the oddest part.

Sitting peacefully against his chair was a sword. It was sheathed, of course, no reason to have it out if it's just going to sit there, but it was still a sword. And looking at it I could tell that it wasn't a normal sword, it absolutely hummed with energy. The same and different type of energy that came from his belt, which had a few knives on it.

“That's a lot of weapons,” I heard myself whisper.

The boy stirred, giving out a slight 'hmm?' at my words. A few thoughts crossed my mind, nearly all of them related to the knives and the sword. A young boy, dressed in all black, with a cloak, a lot of knives, and a sword. This wasn't a normal boy. No matter how comfy the bed, I didn't want to be here anymore.

First instincts: fight or flight? Nothing changed from the last time, I'm not a fighter, so flight it is. I tried to swing my legs over the side of the bed, but stopped. Hot fire shot through my stomach and I doubled over, letting out a silent gasp as all the air left my lungs. My entire body hurt, no way I would be running. Where did this pain come from? I had been curled up, my stomach shouldn't have been hit hard enough to hurt this much.

“Don't move too much.” The boy said, yawning and rubbing his eyes. “I just put those bandages on.”

Pushing through the pain I grabbed the blanket and shoved it aside. Sure enough, there was a set of white bandages wrapped around my stomach and back, and a few on my arms. Now that I thought about it, my shoulder hurt. A lot.

Now, I'm not a trained expert when it comes to wounds. Pain, sure, I know about that, but I wasn't formally trained to tell how bad a wound is just from pain alone. At least, not on anyone else. I knew that if it was me and I had needed this many bandages, I must have been in bad shape. Stars above, if there were this many bandages on my stomach, I must have actually been about to bleed out. This boy had just saved my life. That was probably the worst thing that could happen to me.

“How's your shoulder?” The boy asked, whispering quietly. “It looked a little off, probably dislocated. I can set it back, but you have to be quite.”

Maybe I nodded, or maybe he just interpreted my silence as a yes, because he reached over, grabbed my left shoulder with both hands, and shoved it. A sharp pain shot through my veins like fire, replaced a moment later with a dull pain that only ached in my arm and chest instead. Yeah, a lot better...

“Ssst!” I inhaled sharply, not prepared for the pain in my arm. I hadn't dislocated my shoulder before, it hurt more than I had been expecting, and I hadn't mentally prepared for the pain.

“Shh!” The boy hissed. “You have to be quite.”

“T-thanks,” I muttered as quietly as I could, tentatively rubbing my shoulder with my other hand. I heal fast, by the end of the day I wouldn't feel a thing. For now, though, I would have to deal with a throbbing and sore left arm.

The boy's head snapped to the door when there was a soft knocking. He froze, staring at it, as though wondering if he had imagined it. He hadn't, I had heard it too. A moment later the boy stood, expression blank, and walked to the door, opening it just enough to peek through the crack.

I heard a voice coming from the other side of the door, saying just that.

“I heard a voice from in here.” A voice lower than the boy's coming through. Not a question, a statement.

“I was talking...” The boy replied slowly. Not a lie, he was talking, but so was I.

I heard the sound of clothes shuffling. Normal clothes, not like what this boy wore. “It was a different voice. Male.”

Yeah, it was a male voice. Everybody talking here was male. Right?

I saw light brown hair move, and heard more shuffling. The boy on the other side of the door could have been doing any number of things, though I was guessing he was fidgeting with nerves or frustration.

“Look,” The lower voiced boy started, “I know you're supposed to be sneaky or something, but Thomas would kill you if he found you with a guy in here. Besides, your Trial starts in the morning, now isn't the time for this.”

Trial? Where I was from there was something that warranted enough importance to sound like a capital letter. Of course, the Trial I had undergone involved a lot of risky maneuvers intended to test the limits of my mind and abilities. Actually, it was less of a Trial, and more of a death-wish, now thought I thought about it.

“Anyone we know?” The lower voice boy asked, shuffling around again, probably trying to peer inside the room.

The boy shifted his weight, stopping the door from moving. Subtle.

“You did bring a guy, right?” The lower voice boy asked, sounding worried.

The boy nodded.

A pause. “Are they human?” Came the whisper.

The boy didn't say anything. I could almost see the gears spinning in his head, trying to work through ideas and figure out a solution to get them out of this problem. But before they could say anything the door was pushed open, and a boy just a little smaller than the one I had spoken to forced their way inside.

This boy was dressed much more normally, but I think he was a little younger. He was, I'm not sure, maybe ten? It's hard to tell with humans, sometimes they age visibly, sometimes they don't, he could have been ten or thirty, I had no way to know, but he was smaller. He had light brown hair, contrasting his brother's dark brown hair of the same length. He wore trousers, dark blue, points to me for remembering colors, and a white button down shirt that was sloppily buttoned. Under one arm he had a purplish crystal, which was emitting a soft light from it, and he stood as though he owned the place. Hey, walk with confidence, right?

He looked around, eyes stopping on me, then growing wider than I thought was possible for a human, before spinning around to talk to the other boy.

“Jay, please tell me you didn't sleep with it!”

I take offense to that! I'm clearly a guy, no point calling me 'it'. Actually, a human might not be able to tell. I had shorter fur than females of my species, but my whiskers and tail were longer, and my ears pointier. I had been mistaken for a girl on more than one occasion. Maybe I should be offended that the boy was uneducated instead of rude? Whatever, I'm offended!

“No!” The taller boy, Jay, replied quickly, throwing their hands up in defense, a hint of a smile crossing their face. “He was injured, so I brought him here.”

“You and your bleeding heart...” The smaller boy shook his head. “They're a demon, Jay. A demon! Killing demons is our thing, what were you thinking?” He sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. I did that sometimes.

Jay's expression was unreadable, which made me guess he knew he was in trouble. But he had said he brought me here, did that mean he carried me? I'm not exactly light as a feather, even though males are a little lighter, so either Jay was really strong for their age, or I was a lot lighter than I thought.

“There's not a whole lot of options,” the boy sighed.

“I know,” Jay replied.

“But this could solve your problem,” the boy looked up hopefully.

“Marcus...” Jay started slowly.

“I know.” Marcus gave some sort of odd shrug. “We missed the cut off. But, just consider it, really consider it for a second. One performance and you're done, never have to do it again, I can vouch for you, say you were on time.”

“We can't lie to them.”

“It's just one thing,” Marcus continued, “You look out of it whenever you talk to them anyway.”

“It's not happening.”

“Fine...”

Okay, I was lost. There was a lot more to this conversation than I was picking up on. Clearly if Jay put on a performance, one potentially involving me, they could solve all their issues. In my current state, I wouldn't be able to contribute much, but if it solved all my problems too I could give it my best. Stars above, if one performance could fix my troubles I would have a home and decent life in under an hour.

“Whah?” I tried to speak, but a dull pain shot through my jaw, which I immediately began rubbing. A little early, another few minutes and I could probably fully open my mouth. Fast healing had its perks

Marcus, the smaller human, glanced at me, then turned back to Jay.

“It would be a mercy,” Marcus insisted.

Oh, I just love being talked down to by humans not even half my age.

“You know I won't.” Jay folded his arms and looked down at Marcus. “Not unless he deserves it.”

Marcus sighed. “Yeah, I know,” He paused, “I'll act like I ran into you while you were leaving, say you left early to do your Trial. Should give you a head start.”

Jay nodded. I didn't know what his Trial was, but I could understand needing to be fast about it. If is Trial was anything like what I went through when I became what we demons consider a pro, then it wouldn't take all that long, but starting sooner was smart. You were either a master, or dead, no in-between.

“We're leaving.” Jay said, moving towards his chair, grabbing his sword and a small bag.

“N-now?” I forced out, trying not to move my mouth. When I really stopped and thought about it I was pretty comfortable. An actual bed was pretty foreign to me, several years foreign, actually. Lying down in one was kinda nice. Sure, there were a lot of weapons around, but I was pretty relaxed.

“Now.” Jay put their arm under mine and lifted, helping me stand.

I shivered at the contact, humans for some reason don't care about touching other creatures, but stood and got out of the bed. I grabbed my staff, noticing that it had been lying against the bed, and walked to the door with Jay. Marcus closed it behind us.

“I'll handle the happy couple.” He whispered, rolling his eyes and throwing on a small grin. “Go.”

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Jay nod. I focused my attention on a flight of stairs in front of me. Something was off about this whole situation. I missed a detail earlier, something I should have reacted to. What was it?


	3. Chapter 3

Jay forced open a thick wooden door, and we walked forward. I looked around, trying to figure out where I was. All around me were trees, we were in the woods. The house we had just left had been in a small clearing, and it was already blending in despite being only a few feet away from it. There wasn't even a set path to the house, dirt or otherwise. I had been in a town just a little while ago, where exactly was I?

I gritted my teeth and tried to move away from Jay. “I can walk on my own.”

Jay rolled his eyes, but moved to the side, letting me stand on my own. Of course, the moment I had to actually support all my weight, I realized I was wrong. I told my legs they could hold all my weight, they laughed and told me I was wrong. I leaned on my staff, trying to keep myself up, and just barely managed to stay standing, though I was nearly doubled over doing so.

I tried to order my thoughts while I gained my balance. A human boy had saved my life by putting bandages on an almost definitely fatal would. In no uncertain terms, he had saved me. This meant I was indebted to him, and bound to him by a contract. That was big, but I couldn't shake the feeling that I was missing something. What was it?

First order of business, get him to dismiss me, I could work out what I forgot later.

“Thanks for saving me,” I started, trying to stand at my full height, which should have been taller than his but I couldn't tell while I was hunched over, “But it wasn't really necessary.”

“Mmhm.” Jay put both hands on his hips and tilted his head. He didn't look amused.

“Really, it wasn't,” I continued, “If you just say the word, I'll be gone from your life forever.”

I couldn't leave until he told me to. My species, a race of cat-like demons called Tolrand, have a strict code of honor that I couldn't ignore, it was actually bound to my magic. Having my life saved by this boy meant that I was bound to them until I could return the favor. If I could get him to dismiss me, though, that would be the end of it, I would be free. Jay didn't know I was bound to him, so if I could just get him to tell me to leave, I was as good as gone. Should be easy enough, I've been told I have a very annoying personality.

“You won't get very far with that wound.” Jay looked me up and down. “Without your walking stick you wouldn't even be standing.”

“It's for my limp...” I looked away nervously. I didn't really know how to react as myself here.

“Uh huh...” I could almost hear the frown.

I looked back to Jay, who was suddenly a lot closer. He reached out and placed his hand, palm open, on my chest. I tried to order my thoughts and raise some kind of barrier, expecting a spell, but there was no magic thrown at me. He simply grinned and pushed, forcing me off balance.

If a demon falls in the woods, and nobody is around to see it, do they make a noise? Well, I certainly did, but Jay was around, so that doesn't count. I won't say exactly the kind of sound I made, but I will say that it was a sound that makes it hard for me to say I'm not a cat.

I was like a tree when too much of the trunk gets cut, but instead of snapping in half and breaking, I simply fell backwards. Nothing broke, or, nothing that wasn't already broken, and nothing fell loose. My hands were still on my staff, but now I was on my back, worried about a head injury.

Luckily, it was that season the humans named, and the ground was covered in leaves. Truth be told I didn't hit the ground very hard, but I wasn't happy. Neither was my stomach, which was suddenly very warm, and I could feel my fur getting matted down with blood. The bandages around my stomach were slowly turning violet. Wonderful.

Jay hissed out a curse and reached into his bag, pulling out a large role of bandages. Instead of replacing my bandages, though, he just started adding more, and putting them on tighter.

“No, it's fine.” I muttered, rolling my eyes. “I like my fur bloody, really brings out the dark color, you know?”

Since my pride was completely intact, I'm essentially the epitome of perfection here, I decided to ask for an introduction. I knew his name, though he hadn't given it to me.

“So,” I said, grabbing the wrap of bandages from Jay, who frowned but let me have them, and started on removing the bloodied ones, “Who are you, exactly?”

Jay watched me carefully as I bandaged myself. I didn't think he was concerned with my ability to bandage myself. Not that there was a need to worry, the stars knew I had plenty of practice patching myself up with less. I was mostly just grateful it was me doing the bandages this time. I didn't like being touched.

“Jay LeMonte.” He answered.

I froze in place. I could feel my eyes widening as my head suddenly cleared. Right, we kill demons, that's our thing, the younger brother had said that. Jay was a LeMonte. That must have been what I had missed.

Shock, horror, fear, and a little bit of blood loss all ran through my mind. At least, they would have if I was a normal demon. Tolrand don't exactly have emotions, and even though I look like a pure-blood I'm only half, so I still have something like emotions. I'm just very good at keeping them under lock and key. So instead of feeling a lot of emotions I just felt a little shock, then began to think.

LeMonte? An actual LeMonte? In the flesh, sitting right in front of me, failing spectacularly to dress my wounds? What's more, an actual LeMonte not killing me on sight? That didn't make any sense.

I searched the shelves of my mind for all the info I had on the LeMonte family, pulling a very small book off a shelf. They're the most well known family this side of the world, their trade of choice being murder, but only of demons and angels. Well, lucky for me I was a cat-like demon with dark fur, a tail, green cat eyes, pointed ears, whiskers, and paws instead of feet. I was in the clear, I didn't look anything like a demon!

And I had been in the LeMonte household! In the same room as two LeMontes, and I lived! That was a miracle in and of itself. That I had been saved by one and was now bound to them was actually a fate worse than death. The opposite of a miracle. What was the word for that?

“That's a joke, right?” I asked nervously, trying to keep my hands from shaking as I wrapped my stomach. Focus on the task at hand, task at hand. I was just shaking from blood loss, right? “A real LeMonte?”

Jay nodded. “That's right.”

I blinked once.

“Why am I still alive?” I blurted out, a little louder than I was expecting.

Yeah, not my most clever moment, I'll admit, but it's not everyday you get to ask one of the most dangerous humans in the world a question like that. The boy in front of me, as young as he might be compared to me or other humans, didn't seem like a hardened killer, I was probably okay with asking a question like this. But then I remembered all of his knives, and that sword he carried which hummed dangerously. You don't carry around that kind of weaponry unless you intend to use it, and his last name told me he not only intended to, but knew how. He wasn't a joke, even if he was just a young boy.

Jay sighed. “I don't like demons, but I don't think it's right to kill you just because you're a demon. You didn't choose to be a demon. I didn't choose to be a LeMonte.”

“That's uh... a situation of birth, huh?” I laughed nervously. Yeah, him and his bleeding heart. At least the LeMonte I get bound to is the only one who won't kill me on sight, or maybe one of two since his brother didn't kill me. Either way, not having Jay's sword sticking out of my chest was a good thing.

“Something like that.” Jay looked away into the trees. “So, who are you?”

Well, I had known this was coming. Given that I had asked for his name it was only fair he got mine. I really didn't want to give it, though. If he wasn't a LeMonte, I might have been able to give him a fake name, or refuse altogether. Actually, being a LeMonte didn't have anything to do with it anymore. I was bound to him, I was unable to tell him a direct lie, and he had asked me a direct question. He asked for my name, he would get it.

“Orion,” I said, trying to muffle my name by ripping the roll of bandages with my teeth.

“Orion?” Jay asked, watching me tie off the bandage. Not very pretty, and more than a little tight, but it would work. I had done this enough times to know.

“Orion,” I mumbled.

“Just Orion?” Jay asked. “No title? No listing of your parents or ancestors or accomplishments?”

“I'm not that old,” I rolled my eyes, “I only do that at, uh, formal events. No, wrong pitch. I don't do that at all. Consider me a first born demon, I don't have any, uh, filliation with my parents or ancestors or anything like that.”

Jay frowned at my words, I knew I had messed up in there somewhere I just didn't know where, the human language was difficult. Then Jay looked at my waist, exposed like my chest, because my robes had been torn during my 'fight' in the alley. “No belt?”

“You all think you're funny,” I said in my language, rolled my eyes and forced myself to my feet, using my staff as leverage. This time my legs believed me, and I stood without too much of an issue.


	4. Chapter 4

Full disclosure, I had no idea where I was. Normally, I'm in some kind of town, doesn't matter which one or how well off it is, it's still a town, which means there's guards or officers or whatever humans call them walking around to make sure that nothing goes too terribly wrong at night. When you're not in a town, you don't have this kind of protection, and I am not in a town.

I am in the middle of the woods, some distance from the LeMonte manor, but probably in the middle of nowhere, with a LeMonte who says they don't want to kill me. There's no moon out, so it's very dark, and there's no lanterns, lights, or electricity, so it's still very dark.

So, all in all, I'm bound to a demon-killing-assassin, at night, in the middle of the woods where nobody can hear me scream. This is actually the worst night of my life.

And I can't get any sleep. Not for lack of trying, I've slept on worse than a pile of leaves next to a tree, but I've never had Jay, or anyone for that matter, find that the middle of the night is the perfect time to do something other than sleep! The past few hours have been filled with soft grunting and small amounts of magic being thrown into the air.

“What are you trying to do?” I finally asked, sitting up and throwing my hands in the air. My only sleep over the past few days was fitful or filled with bleeding, so I would love a good night's rest.

Jay, who had been swinging a dagger, paused and looked at me, eyes shining beneath his cloak's hood. His hood was pitch black, just like the night sky, and he seemed very intimidating, almost floating in the air in front of me.

But his expression was just so comical I couldn't take him seriously. He didn't know how to react when put on the spot. With all his weapons he was probably a good assassin, but the moment I spoke to him he seemed like a child. Murder must be easier than conversation.

“Magic,” he answered simply.

Without waiting for a response he turned around, focusing on something I couldn't see, and crouched. His right hand moving to the edge of his cloak. With a soft grunt he pushed himself up, swinging his arm and cloak at the same time, and grabbed a dagger from his belt. When his arm moved he released just the smallest amount of magic, and swung the dagger.

I'm no expert in magic, but I've been using it for a while. I find it to be some kind of mix between projecting yourself and your power over the forces of life and nature. Simple, right?

I didn't know what kind of magic Jay was good at, or if they were good at all. I could tell that he had magic power, but he just seemed to be throwing it out, not directing it at anything in particular. I guessed that Jay's talisman, the object he would channel all his magic through, was his cloak. Mine was my staff, but it could be anything, I just liked something I could hold in my hands. I also liked something I could use as a weapon. I didn't need one very often, especially because if I ended up in a situation where I did need one I was useless anyway, but it was nice to think I could use it as a weapon if I needed to.

Jay grunted again. I groaned and leaned back against a tree.

“What?” I asked. “The area is filled with your magic, you've got stars shining in your cloak, your illusion spell is done!” I just wanted to sleep.

“Not my goal,” Jay said, swinging his cloak again.

I rolled my eyes. His cloak was a solid black moments ago, now it looked like the night sky. By all means he had cast a spell, what more did he want?

“What's the point?” I asked. Maybe if I could get him to stop I could finally get some sleep. “You're throwing out all this magic but you're not doing anything with it.”

“I'm trying!” Jay shouted suddenly, whirling on me, hand on the hilt of his sword.

My exhaustion vanished, replaced with fear. Without a thought I had moved so that the tree was between me and Jay. I kept my eyes wide, ears pricked, trying to think of an escape plan if I needed it. If Jay genuinely tried to kill me I would flee. It would void our contract, too, I would be free. At least, if I got away. If he killed me I wouldn't need to worry about that, though.

Jay paused, still glaring at me, then took a slow, deep breath. His hand fell from the hilt of his sword and he turned back around. A few moments later he reached to his belt, crouched down, and resumed whatever he had been doing before.

“I need to practice or I won't get any better,” he said slowly. After a few more grunts he stopped and sat down.

I waited a little bit, making sure he wouldn't jump when I moved, and sat back down before asking “Better at what?”

“It's just practice.” Jay answered, lying down and turning away from me. Finally, I could sleep.

At least, that's what I thought. My mind was buzzing now. If I waited long enough I would start to feel exhausted, adrenaline or something, but right now my mind was racing. Jay hadn't made any sense, none whatsoever.

Was he trying to practice magic? Well, he had a good start. He was capable of releasing small amounts of power without any issue, but he wasn't focusing it on or through anything. Was his goal to just practice releasing power? I had never heard of anyone, in any species, needing to practice that. What was the point?

He wasn't trying to cast a spell. If he had been then he would have kept his magic in his talisman the whole time instead of just dropping it into the air. Instead it was just flowing out, filling the air. Was there a goal? Was he trying to expand the amount of magic he could use?

If magic is like a liquid held inside a bottle, and the stopper holding it inside is the will of the user, then what would be the point of practicing taking off that stopper? A spell could be canceled at any point unless it had already been fired, and you could pick up where you left off if the magic was still in the air. There's no need to throw more energy into a spell when the goal is already accomplished.

What was he practicing?


	5. Chapter 5

“We're going,” Jay said.

I turned and open my eyes. It could only have been a few seconds, I hadn't slept at all! But there Jay was, standing over me, hands on his hips, glaring down. It was too early for this, and I wasn't mentally prepared to spend the day with a demon-killing-assassin.

“M'okay,” I mumbled, forcing myself to my feet. I could only imagine the horrors in store for me today. “Where to?”

“Arul.” Jay answered, turning and walking. “I have business there.”

“Your Trial?” I yawned, not really hearing him.

Jay didn't reply, so I left it at that. No point in pressing the issue. He had nearly been angry enough at me last night to kill me, so I would let this sit. Stars above, I was too casual about this. I could be killed if I said something wrong and here I was asking about issues I had no business knowing about. I better keep my mouth shut.

My ears perked up when I realized what Jay had said. Arul, the trade capital of the continent! Supposedly, it was the place to be if you wanted to do anything business related with your life on this side of the world. Even if you lived on the other side you may as well go there and make a name for yourself. If you could get in, that is.

“How do we get in?” I asked, already forgetting about keeping my mouth shut.

“Through the front?” Jay shot me a look that implied I was an idiot.

“Right, like they're just going to let a LeMonte and his pet demon walk inside.],” I rolled my eyes, “The moment they see me they're going to ask what I'm doing there, and when I say I'm following you they're going to wonder why you're letting me live.”

“They're let you in! Okay?” Jay snapped, walking faster.

I flinched, but continued to follow him. Right, don't press, I just said that. Write that down, put it on the walls.

If I had three strikes I probably just hit two. Actually, I was likely a lot further along than that, knowing my attitude. I might have already hit double digits. If I didn't say anything else all day, though, I might be able to make it through this. Just gotta remain silent until my stomach heals and Jay dismisses me. I was already halfway there. Easy, right?


	6. Chapter 6

Arul certainly lives up to its name. We were still a far ways out from the city, maybe half an hour or so of walking, but I was able to see it clearly. Well, I could see the tops of spires easily, the rest was hidden behind walls so large I doubted anybody would ever try to climb over them.

After about half that half hour of walking I was able to stop using my staff to walk. My legs and stomach were healed enough to walk steadily, one of the actual perks of being a demon. But I stopped walking when I saw The Hall. And yeah, it deserves capital letters there.

Okay, technically there were three The Halls, but I was in front of one, and it was impressive. Each Hall, if they could really be called that, broke from a cardinal direction out of the city other than east where the ocean met the city wall, carving a path made of marble and stone for an absolutely huge distance outside of the city. This Hall was filled with various cars and plenty of humans walking in and out of the town.

There were also guards everywhere. I expected that, but still didn't like it. To be fair, the largest walls of the city were on the outside, with a smaller ring of walls somewhere between the outer walls and the city proper. There were little booths set up every so often, and a lot of humans in uniform stood checking other humans or cars for anything suspicious.

I counted ten guards in the first... gate? Arch? Some kind of large structure built into, or out of, the main wall. I could see that there were more of these structures behind the guards, and I guessed each one had as many or more guards.

All of this was fine, of course. The issues I had were the large number of humans and talking to all the guards. I would have been fine if there weren't as many humans, though I saw a few demons, which was nice, but I felt like every human was watching me. Call me paranoid, but I knew of a few people in this town, or around it, who might not take kindly to seeing me. In general, I didn't like being watched unless I was in character, but right now I was just plain Orion. And just plain Orion didn't want to explain himself to guards over and over again.

“It's certainly impressive,” I ventured, flashing Jay a nervous smile.

“It's just Arul,” Jay replied shortly.

“Just Arul?” I gasped. “It's the biggest trade center this side of the world. It's not just anything.”

“Don't get worked up.” Jay eyed me sternly. “We're here on business, then we're leaving.”

Of course. Jay wouldn't get worked up over something like this because he was human, he could go anywhere he wanted. He probably didn't even have to give his name to the guards, he could just walk right in. He'd probably been inside plenty of times, and would be again.

Under normal circumstances I doubted a guard wouldn't let me in. Demons and angels aren't forbidden, per say, but they're not exactly welcomed with open arms. I doubted the guards could turn me away if I wanted to enter, and most shops would take my money, if I had any, but I wouldn't be able to find a job or a place to sleep. Granted, there probably weren't a lot of jobs to be found, or places to sleep, since most of the population lived in Arul instead of visiting, but anything that was there would go to humans first.

Now, if I walked in with a note from an important human saying I could work for another high ranking human I could get a job no problem. Of course, I didn't know any high ranking humans. Well, I could probably make one up and somebody might believe it, but the moment they decide to look into it they would know it was fake and from there I would be in a lot of trouble.

As I was now, though, I didn't look like someone who belonged in the city. I was in torn robes covered in bandages, and most likely my fur was one big chaotic mess. I probably looked like I would cause trouble if I entered, and if I was with a LeMonte, I had little doubt that I would. Jay might have to pull some strings to get me in.

“I should go,” I suggested hopefully, “They, uh, strong might not let me in, anyway.”

“Who's gonna fix your bandages when they come undone again?” Jay ignored my attempt to find the right word.

“You say that like I can't take care of myself.” I tried to laugh, but didn't quite get it out. “Besides, I'm not about to run off and do something stupid.”

“I have a friend inside who can help us out,” Jay stated the answer to an unasked question.

Great, there goes my way out. Jay not only denied my leaving, but also seemed to have a legitimate way to get me inside the city. If I had to choose from a list of ways to get into Arul, this was my last choice, but here I was, walking down a marble path next to a demon-killing-assassin.

“Stay quiet.” Jay said as we approached a pair of guards through the crowd. I stuck close to him.

The two guards were both men, and they were both talking casually to each other, not really watching anybody who went by. One had dark hair, the other light hair, but they both wore crisp suits with large blue coats over them. On the coats, over their hearts, was a patch of an eagle holding an arrow in its beak, the symbol of Arul.

Both guards had swords, two each actually, both humming with energy, though different kinds. I decided to stop looking for weapons when I saw that they both also had guns on their belts, with what looked like small pouches of ammunition next to them.

Jay didn't say a word, he just confidently walked up to the guards and past them. I tried to copy him, mimicking his gait and putting on the best confident face I could pull up with no prep.

It didn't work. One of the guards held out an arm and stared down at me. Not hard, I wasn't very tall even compared to a human, Jay was just barely my height, and even he was small.

“Business?” The man asked gruffly.

“B-business,” I replied quietly, feeling my tail twitch in aggravation. I couldn't speak up.

“Your business here?” He asked, glaring down at me.

I flicked my eyes towards Jay, who had stopped walking and was now staring at me, a bored expression on his face. He didn't seem too interested in helping me. I couldn't speak up if he didn't let me.

“I'm just visiting,” I started quietly, “I'm here to just, uh, I'm just passing by, passing through. Just traveling and, uh, going through the city, no, that's not the right words...” I suddenly couldn't speak the language.

“Stop.” The guard said, reaching into one of his pockets and pulling out a pad of paper and a pen. “Name?”

“Orion.” I managed to say my name properly, but not at much more than a whisper.

The guard started writing. I could guess what he was putting down on the paper. Orion: Demon, cat ears, tail, green eyes, purple fur, traveling, nervous, disheveled.

“Don't cause any trouble.” The guard said, waving me through.

I didn't say anything in reply. I held my staff tightly with both hands and shuffled over to Jay, who turned and continued walking towards the next set of guards. There were only eight at this one, and they again stopped me. I got out a proper response this time, and then managed to walk into the city proper.

Truth be told, I knew very little about Arul. I knew that it was, even though the name didn't translate directly, the trade capital of the continent. I knew about demons having a hard time getting jobs in here, but in the end I didn't know much else.

I began mentally writing down information as quickly as I could the moment I entered the city. Passing through a set of marble pillars I looked around quickly. The walls extended from the pillars on either side of me, stretching far beyond what I could see, curving slightly. With what I had seen from the outside the walls would continue to curve until they met on the other side of the city, broken only by other entrances, and form what was as close to a perfect circle as architecturally possible.

The floor beneath my feet had changed from some sort of refined stone a different type of refined stone, just a little more worn. No expense had been spared on the wall outside the city, it had spires and towers, but inside was regular stone.

The ground was flat, smooth, and easy to walk on. When I actually stepped on it I noticed that it was polished. At least, it had been, but the constant footfall had worn that off. Each stone was a large tile, broken only by cracks that contributed to an intricate yet ultimately nonsensical pattern of cracks and stones in a golden brown color. It looked like each stone had been polished, dropped into place, and then polished again so even the cracks and chips were shiny. It was excessive.

Not even a few feet from the entrance was a little car... place. There was just a single person waiting by a couple cars, all of which were boxed in behind one rope. The man sitting there was reading a book, and looked more interested in the book than the humans around him. I guessed that this was an official place to buy a car from. Considering that each car was the same black model with the same long nose and white trimmed wheels, I didn't care for the little place that much.

Curving out from that box of cars was a different type of stone. Well, it might have been the same, but it didn't have the same nonsensical pattern in the cracks. It was just a little bit lower in the ground, and was mostly smooth. There was a pattern of cracks through the stone that was vaguely directional. It was a little road, one that went into the rest of the city.

In the center of that little road was something I hadn't ever seen before. The metal lines making this path were the same height as the other raised areas, but these lines were much thinner, and were a set distance apart with a lot of what looked like wood planks connecting the two sides. I had never seen a structure like this, and had no idea what it was called.

I followed the road with my eyes, leading me to a mass of humans walking around. The very air seemed to hum with the kind of energy you can only find in heavily populated areas, filled with denizens going about their business as quickly as they dare. Nobody was running, but everybody was active, moving quickly for business, or pleasure, or somewhere in-between. Some carried bags, walking quickly and cutting through slower moving crowds, while others walked slowly or simply stood, chatting with those near them. Two humans in front of a tent seemed to be arguing, but they settled it quickly, so it couldn't have been serious. As I watched a few humans darted between the small black cars, none of which attempted to slow down or swerve to avoid the other humans on foot.

Everybody inside was fairly well dressed, too. I had noticed while walking towards the city that everybody was wearing generally nice clothes, but inside was on another level. It was as if everybody had clothes tailored to them precisely. Human or otherwise, everyone wore something that I could only describe as 'Arul fashion.' Elegant robes, perfectly fitting trousers, boots that seemed to be just the right size; much higher quality than I had ever worn casually.

There was a lot of variety to everything they wore. I noticed some humans wore boots, others wore smaller shoes, and a few walked around with some kind of wrapping around their feet. Some wore pants, others shorts of different materials, and when women wore dresses they were of all different styles, some with frills and some without. It made it hard to pin down what was supposed to look good and what wasn't.

Now that I thought about it, Jay and I really stood out. He was wearing all black, cloak included, and I was a demon in torn robes. His cloak made a little sense given a lot of men were wearing something similar, just a lot shorter, but the dark colors didn't match. It was a pleasant day out, maybe a tad cold for humans, but nothing to warrant wearing all black. I would call this near perfect weather for walking around town.

But Jay was wearing a cloak, which was best for... I didn't know, actually, I never wore a cloak. It really didn't match the rest of the fashion, though, but Jay made no move to take it off. Was it his talisman? Is that why he was keeping it on?

“I guess the streets aren't paved with gold...” I said absently, not quite sure where I had heard that to begin with.

“Like I said,” Jay frowned, “Just Arul.”

I frowned back. He must come here often if he considered this town to be just anything. I decided to try a new approach.

“You seem to be an expert,” I started, “How does this town work?” Still a talking subject, but less focused on the grandeur of the city and more on the facts.

“There's a few districts.” Jay started, somehow managing to sound bored. He chose a direction and started walking. “We were facing north when we entered, so to the north end, past the center, is the business district, where all the paperwork stuff is done. Traders and other business and stuff like that are all over, basically everywhere. Bigger businesses have spots closer to the center, and boats come to do trade at the east end. I don't really go there, but I've been to the other districts.”

“That's it?” I asked after waiting for a moment. I had expected a little more... I don't know, districts? A caste system? Most towns anywhere usually have a lot more to them, though sometimes the districts are crammed into each other. This town was supposed to be legendary and amazing, but that description made it seem so... mundane.

“That's it.” Jay replied, and I could almost hear him rolling his eyes. “Unless you enter by boat from the east, there's nothing impressive about this place.”

Enter by boat? You could just sail into this city? I knew that there was the ocean over there but I didn't know it was close enough to move a boat from there to here. That would certainly explain why this city was so big on trading.

I decided to look around me and take more mental notes, writing everything I could in a new mental book. I would have to make room on the shelf.

There were houses all around us now, so we must be in the residential district. Most of the houses were identical to each other. They were all one floor, each with two windows facing the street and a door between them. They were all made of a light wood, and the outsides looked like they had seen some wear and tear, but held up well. Each house had a stone base, it looked like a gray version of the stone I was currently walking on, but without the polish.

There were less humans around in this area, no sense to mill around in the residential district if it was just houses, but one thing remained constant: I only saw humans. No angels, no demons, just humans. And they were all smiling. I moved a little closer to Jay, behind him and just barely to his right. As much as I was scared of the demon-killing-assassin I was bound to, I was more scared of the hundreds of humans walking around smiling for no clear reason. No group of anything could naturally be this happy, it didn't make sense, there was too much to be done to be happy.

I noticed a change in wealth instantly. One moment the houses were all made of wood and one floor tall, then suddenly they were two or three floors, and made with a wood that was darker, and looked a lot nicer, polished on a few houses. I could only assume it cost more money, but I couldn't wrap my head around it. Polishing wood wouldn't save it from a fire, would it?

Some houses even had more windows, to the point that was just unnecessary. There were even curtains inside, blocking the view from a certain curious demon. A few houses even had little porches, with a few potted plants on a small slab of stone just next to the door.

I frowned and tried to imagine what it would be like to live in one of these big houses. Waking up every morning and walking halfway across town to get to your work, smiling the whole way, greeting everyone as you walked. That part had some appeal to it, but it just didn't seem right. What would there be to do in a house so big? There was no need for more than one war room, so what were all the other rooms and floors for? Did each person have their own bedroom and entertainment room? Were there huge families living in each house?

Now that was a thought. Being retired and living with a big family. If I ever got to an age where I could work magic professionally, it might be a possibility. I would have a lot of money from... whatever big scam I decided was my last. Maybe then I could settle down, buy a house, and have a family.

No matter how much I thought on it, though, I couldn't see myself with any woman I had met before, none of them could really keep up with me. I was usually moving as fast as I possibly could. When I wasn't forcibly attached to a human, of course...

But there was still a silver lining. Jay didn't know I was indebted to him. That was about as lucky as I could hope to be in this situation. I could play this off, act like I was being nice and just repaying the favor. Maybe I could trick him into thinking I had my own agenda, and that sending me off would be smart. That might have to be a last resort, though, he might just kill me instead.

When the right moment presented itself I might be able to get Jay mad at me. Not enough to kill me, just enough to get him to yell at me and tell me to leave. A single dismissal and I was free, I just needed to get him to say it. Only a few hours into servitude and I already wanted out. Pet life was in the same category as retired life, then. Simply not for me.


	7. Chapter 7

I started to become worried when the houses turned even nicer than the ones we had just passed. The one Jay stopped in front of was much bigger, four floors in all, and painted with a bright blue. There were at least five windows on the side facing the street, and I couldn't see the other sides, but I could see little windowsills sticking out from below each window. And the door to the house, it was huge! So huge that Jay could stand on my shoulders, reach up, and still not touch the top of it. And it was elevated on a stone platform with steps leading to it!

Leading out from the door was a stone path, the same stone as the little stairs, but it looked different from the stone that made the streets. It was a little duller, but it was well polished, not worn at all, and broken into large and small circles, forming a loose path from the door through what I could only guess was a modern garden.

There was a lot of grass, which must take a lot of work to keep alive, and a few huge bushes around, which were all trimmed to have perfectly flat tops and perfectly straight sides. Whoever took care of this garden must have spent hours each day on just maintenance, I couldn't even imagine how much time it would take if the humans who lived here wanted something new in the garden. Days, at least, months maybe! In front of the house was a large gate. Large enough that if I really put my mind to it I could climb over, but I wasn't even considering the idea right now.

I stood still while Jay walked up to the gate and let himself in, then walked up the stone path to the front door and knocked loudly. Moments later the door opened and a human dressed in mostly black stood there. Jay said something I couldn't hear, the other human nodded, turned, and closed the door behind them. Jay began walking back towards me.

This house was simply too much! There was just no need for something like this, it was just excessive. Four floors including ground level, way too many windows, several different types of blue paint, ornate window sills, that huge door, a metal gate, there was even a statue hidden behind one corner of the house! Who needed something like this?

I couldn't even appreciate it, it was that much. I didn't know anything about architecture other than buildings stand when you build them properly, I couldn't look at this building and think 'Ah, yes, fine craftsmanship' because I didn't know a single thing about it. It was just so much, why would anyone willingly spend their money on something like this?

“Who lives here?” I whispered, mostly to myself.

“Signata family,” Jay replied, adjusting his belt and cloak.

“Who are they?” I ventured, silently repeating the name to myself and convincing myself it was a real word.

“Friends of mine.” Jay started shifting his weight forward and backward. “Well, their daughter is. I planned on coming here last night, but I had a little extra weight.”

“Just say the word and I'm gone.” I rolled my eyes, but was silently hopeful. “I'm only here because you have the roll of bandages.” I tried to make a joke out of it, but didn't get the response I was hoping for.

Jay simply decided to be silent, so I kind of pouted and started mulling over the information I had been given, writing it down mentally. What kind of person was this daughter of the Signata family? Why would she be friends with a LeMonte?

And why had Jay been on his way here? I put my thumb under my chin and the side of my finger against my lips, thinking. From the way he had spoken with his brother, what was his name again, Jay had sounded like he almost had the intention to run away. I had experience with running away, I could appreciate the need for it. It solved a fair amount of problems, but usually you needed a place you could run to, not just something to run away from. What was Jay running from? His Trial? Well, it was possible, though I didn't know what it was.

I shook my head, not my focus.

“So what are they like?” I asked. Better than asking if this daughter was rich, though they clearly were if they lived in a house like this, but asking questions was still better than standing in silence. “What's your interest in them? Friendly, romantic, somewhere in between?”

Jay glared at me, and I took a step back, but he answered my question anyway.

“She's a nice girl, and if you do or say anything that upsets her I'll kill you.”

Not an idle threat coming from a LeMonte, that's for sure.

“She's also really smart. Not like me, though, she's good with business. Her father runs the forgery trade.”

I took a breath and let it out slowly, whistling. Of course, Signata had a few sounds that translated to a different, fairly well known name, though not a very welcome name where I was from. That was the puzzle piece that made everything fit together. The forgery trade.

Not forging a painting and selling it to the highest bidder, this forgery trade was an honest business. Recently, by human standards that is, humans had 'discovered' two types of materials and methods which we demons and our rival angels had been using for a long time prior. Of course, humans would never admit they didn't discover it, and I doubted demons really cared, we got benefits from it.

The materials were an odd mix of various elements found on this plane, and when they were combined in the right way they formed a type of metal which was charged with a type of energy that was referred to as either Hell-forged or Sky-forged. As you can guess, one is aligned to demons, and the other angels, and are thus effect against their counterpart.

Sky-forged and Hell-forged weapons were very good at damaging demons and angels, respectively. A normal knife would hurt me, no doubt, but I would be up and walking again the same day. My stomach and shoulder were a good example of this, I was almost fully healed after just a few hours. But a Sky-forged weapon would be much more of a hassle.

More pain, that was a given, on the level of being stabbed with a knife, then the wielder twisting the knife, dragging it around, and taunting me the whole time. It would take me a lot longer to heal from a wound made by a Sky-forged dagger. The wound would stay open longer, I would bleed more, and it could take up to several days to heal. I was basically a human at that point, and there wasn't a lot more humiliating than that.

Hell-forged weapons worked the same, but on angels. More pain, more bleeding, longer recovery. Against a demon, though, a Hell-forged weapon was about as effective as a normal weapon, though I wasn't really concerned with that. When I thought about it, I was okay against two types of weapons and only really scared of the third. Of course, that third type just happened to be a big sword hanging behind a LeMonte assassin who I was bound to, so my fear was reasonable. This time...

These aligned weapons had one purpose, as most all weapons had one purpose: to kill. A Sky-forged weapon was made to kill demons, a Hell-forged weapon was made to kill angels. It was no secret that humans weren't considered a huge factor in the grand scheme of demons and angels, they were lucky to live even a tenth of our life spans, but these weapons gave them an edge. Humans weren't at war with either demons or angels, though sometimes it felt like they were, but they were great at mass-producing high quality Hell-forged and Sky-forged weapons.

Again, humans were not at war with us, or involved in our war, but that didn't change the fact that they didn't like us. Stars above, they had hunters who made a living off killing us even though they outnumbered us, and we knew next to nothing about them. I was standing next to one, they were called LeMontes. Or, at least, this one was, the others were just hunters.

I shuddered, trying not to think about Jay's multitude of weapons. My gaze wandered, trying to find something else to focus on, when I saw the front door to the Signata house open and close. I put my attention there, taking stock of the girl who was walking towards me.

She had long hair, curly, and a brilliantly bright shade of red that was almost orange in the sun. I could see as she stepped closer that she had green eyes, something a lot of humans didn't have, but was normally found attractive in demons. That's right, my eyes were considered attractive, or maybe exotic. On this human girl, though, it was just weird. She was, I can't be sure, ten, maybe? It's really hard to tell with humans...

Like Jay she had a round face, and her cheeks were about as soft. Now that I thought about it, Jay looked more like this girl than his brother.

I rolled my eyes when this girl walked up to Jay and hugged him. She was taller, just by a little, but she was wearing custom tailored clothes that fit perfectly. No bag or sag anywhere. Well, not anywhere that you wouldn't expect to see it. She was wearing not quite a robe, but not quite a dress either, more like a large mix of both, with big open sleeves and a lot of space below the waist.

When she had finished hugging Jay the girl turned to look at me, spinning on one leg, swinging her other, she was wearing boots, which was certainly not normal for a girl in this day and age. She looked me up and down, so I gave her a bored look while I looked over her shoulder. She had a small bag hanging over it, the contents were anyone's guess.

“You aware of your tail?” The girl asked Jay, turning back to face him. I flicked my ears in response. All humans think they're funny.

“Fully.” Jay replied, nodding in my direction. At least he wasn't trying to kill me.

“Alright.” The girl nodded. “I need you to kill a demon for me.”

I stopped and quickly looked back and forth between Jay and the girl. I was definitely about to die.

The girl turned to me. “Not you.”

Jay simply nodded. “Let's talk about this somewhere else.”

The girl sighed. “It's just business, we don't have to hide or anything. Whatever, let's go get something to eat.”

They probably weren't considering me in that sentence, but I had to admit, getting something to eat sounded appealing. I hadn't eaten in a long time. However, I wasn't in love with the concept of openly talking about killing demons around a LeMonte, even if I was just walking around not saying anything. I wasn't thrilled about anything involved, actually.

“Guy, walk behind us,” the girl demanded, turning away from me, grabbing Jay's wrist, and walking away.

“Orion,” I muttered in response. It was better than being called tail, though.

“Call me Cam.” The girl turned towards me and laughed. “Write it with a star at the end.”

“Ha ha.” I rolled my eyes. Like I've never heard that one before. What was it about humans that made them always want to joke about my name? Their constellation wasn't even around when demons had my name.

I focused on Cam's back as we walked. To be more specific, I focused on what was on her back. Hiding underneath her bright curly hair was something, but I couldn't be sure of what exactly. It was large, and it looked like it had several limbs, some of which where holding onto Cam's shoulders. Was it a large spider? No way a human would be comfortable having a large spider on their back, I wasn't comfortable being near one this large. But this one was completely still, eerily so. I would keep an eye on it, I didn't like it.

“I'm not in the business of coldblooded murder, Cam.” Jay said quietly, leaning towards Cam. On instinct I leaned a little closer. I might be in danger, but I was still a nosy demon, I wanted to hear this.

“I'm not asking you to just murder someone,” Cam laughed.

“But you are asking me to kill a demon.” Jay replied quickly, hand moving to the hilt of their sword. “You know I'm not like that.”

Cam put her hands up. “Let me at least explain the job. Once you have all the facts you can turn it down if you want. I'll get a different LeMonte if you don't want this.”

Jay sighed. “Fine. Where are we doing this?”

“There's a bakery in the center of town that I've been wanting to try out,” Cam said, suddenly growing very serious, “They opened up the other day, and I've been hearing a lot about them. I haven't had time to visit with all my lessons and drafts.”

“I'm not talking about this in the center of town,” Jay stopped walking and stared at Cam.

“Then pick somewhere.” Cam continued walking, albeit a little slower. She walked backwards, fully confident in her motions. “Just remember your pet isn't welcome everywhere.”

“I'm not a pet!” I groaned quietly, wishing that I had just died on the street.

“You look like one.” Cam turned and smiled at me.

I tried to say something sarcastic, but Jay stopped me.

“Hey!” Jay snapped his fingers in front of my face.

My fur stood on end and I took a step back, but turned to face Jay. I tried not to look shocked, though I was sure I failed. Why did he like being so close?

“Hmm?” I asked.

“What magic can you do?” He asked, putting his hands on his hips. “Can you hide or something?”

I hesitated. I knew for a fact that if I hadn't been bound to Jay there was no way I would answer his question. But since I was, and it had been a direct question, I had to answer truthfully. Could I convince myself that this was directly harmful to myself and then not do it?

“Yeah,” I muttered, “I can turn invisible.”

“Maybe he can teach you that trick, Jay.” Cam, suddenly behind Jay, put her arm over his shoulder.

“Just...” Jay started, ducking out from under Cam's arm, “do it. Stick close, though.”

A direct command, again. Boy oh boy, slavery was going to be absolutely thrilling.

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, trying to focus on the task at hand. I let the sounds around me fade out of focus, slowly letting out my breath. I took another breath and tried to ignore the humans around me, but I kept hearing the slight humming of Jay's Sky-forged sword, and he had started tapping his foot.

“Hurry it up,” Jay said suddenly, snapping me back into reality.

“I'm a little stressed,” I complained, rolling my eyes, “Probably something to do with that sword of yours.”

I backpedaled quickly when Jay reached for his sword.

“If you have a problem with it then let's fix that right now!” He growled, glaring at me.

“Aren't you against coldblooded murder?” Cam asked, twirling her hair and leaning against Jay. “You know how I can't do magic if someone is talking too loudly? It's the same concept, but he's got a real reason. Hard to focus when there's a weapon designed to kill you a few feet away.”

“Thank you!” I gestured to Cam. “Someone who understands.”

Cam laughed, Jay glared at me.

“Whatever.” Jay rolled his eyes. “Just turn invisible or something.”

“Alright, alright...” I turned away and took another deep breath.

I tightened my grip on my staff, flicked my ears and straightened my tail, and sighed. I reached down into myself, past my thoughts, past my locked up emotions, into the very core of my being. Once I was there I felt it, two large reservoirs, brimming with magic, held closed by the force of my will. I opened the clear container, the darker one wasn't suited to this task, and grabbed a little bit of magic from it.

I took the magic and let it fill my mind. It felt like I had taken a drink of fresh, cold water as the magic filled my body, a low ring echoing through my head. I took the magic and shaped it, imagining a large sheet of fabric. Once I had it in my mind I imagined it falling lightly over me, stopping just before it touched my ears, barely not touching me, but hiding me entirely. The fabric would then wrap around me, forming large sleeves and covering my hands and feet and tail. I imagined opening my eyes and seeing not fabric, but the world around me, just as I would if there had been no sheet.

I opened my eyes and looked around. Nothing had moved, though Jay and Cam had shifted positions to look closer at me. The world was just a little darker than before, and when I moved I felt the smallest possible resistance. These signs told me my spell had worked. I was covered in a veil, a bit of magic shaped around me to make me appear completely invisible. For all intents and purposes, I wasn't here anymore.

“Impressive,” Jay admitted, nodding in my general direction.

“Very good,” Cam agreed, looking at me directly, “I like the shape on it, covers you really well. I've never seen one made like that.”

I blinked. Either Cam was very good at guessing where I was, or she had a much better memory than I expected. I could have moved.

“Still there?” Jay asked, looking slightly to my left.

“Right where we left him,” Cam answered, putting a hand around Jay's head and shifting his gaze to face me.

“Can you see me?” I looked to Cam.

“Not really,” Cam answered, “Your spell is working fine. I've just got a bit of magic that lets me see your... fur... I guess.”

“What kind of magic?” I asked, suddenly worried.

If Cam had some kind of magic that could see through a veil then I wanted to know about it. If other humans, or anyone for that matter, had that kind of power then I was in trouble. Veils were my only real method of hiding or escaping, if someone could negate them without any effort then I needed to know how to counter that. Wait, she could see my fur?

“Secret!” Cam replied cheerily. “But if you guess it I'll tell you if you're right.”

“Oh...” I said slowly, looking down to make sure I wasn't peaking out of my veil.

“Okay.” Cam stood up to her full height. “Let's go to the bakery.”


	8. Chapter 8

The main perk of being invisible is that nobody can see you. If you don't want to talk to anyone, this is great! On the other hand, nobody can see you. This means you have to weave between everyone without touching them, since they won't move for you. In my case, though, I just walked between Jay and Cam, about a step behind them, and let them clear the way for me.

I followed them into a large wooden building. The first thing I noticed, before I even walked in, was the smell. Yeah, irregular nose, I would probably notice the smell first, but I can happily say I wasn't the only one to stop and take a breath. Cam and I both paused to really take in the atmosphere, Jay didn't seem to care.

It smelled of freshly baked bread, and the smell itself was warm. So many different spices mixing together, I couldn't begin to name them all. Simply taking a breath made me feel at peace, if only for a moment.

The building itself wasn't very impressive, though. It stood between two other buildings, both of which were very similar looking. Solid wood, a single coat of paint, glass windows, the normal stuff. Considering it's size, and how little of it looked like it was actually a store, I guessed that the owners had re-purposed their house to make it partially into a shop.

The door was the most notable part of the building. It had small windows built into it, and was propped open slightly, with a little bell at the top that jingled happily when Cam opened the door, and held it open for Jay and myself.

Not far into the main room was a wooden counter, behind which stood a woman with bright hair, a bright smile, and rosy cheeks. She greeted Jay happily, who returned a greeting with much less vigor, while Cam and I began looking at the goods placed on the counter. Nobody but our little group was inside this shop, so I didn't have to worry about where I stood.

I had a tough time choosing which one piece I would want. Each item looked so interesting and appealing. Bread twisted into odd shapes, decorated with ingredients I had never tasted unless I was working, various colors, different smells, it was heaven. I wanted to try each and every one, if only I had the money!

“Let's see here,” Cam said suddenly, leaning in close, her shoulder bumping my arm.

I took a step away, remembered that I was invisible, and bit back a retort. I flicked my tail indignantly, but didn't say anything. I did stick my tongue out at her, though I doubted she could tell, even with whatever magic that let her know where I was.

“How about... two of these?” Cam pointed at a large piece of bread, twisted into what I could only assume was a large knot. It was covered in a yellowish spice, with little dots of red and green. Garlic, maybe?

Jay nodded, leaning on the counter and speaking casually with the woman. We waited, Jay and Cam much more patiently than I, until the food ordered was given to us. Cam paid for all the food, pulling coins and a few paper bills out of a pocket in her robes, and grabbed both the large bread knots.

I followed, very closely this time, as we left the shop and Jay chose a direction to walk. I followed closely behind them, but had to jump out of the way of a car that was driving particularly close to the walkers. Of course, nobody noticed.

“This won't just float around in the air when I give it to you, will it?” Cam asked nobody in particular.

“Please.” I rolled my eyes, glad my sarcasm was clear in my voice. “Give me a little credit. I've been at this long enough to know how to handle a veil.”

“Just checking.” Cam snickered, holding out one of the knots, which I quickly grabbed. To anybody watching, they would have seen Cam hold out the knot, which would then vanish the instant I grabbed it.

I barely managed to whisper out a quick 'thank you' before I took a bite. I was right, it was garlic! And it was delicious! It was nice and hot, it had just come out of the oven, but not too hot to bite. The flavor was sharp, but not overly so, and I found myself quickly taking another bite before I had finished my first.

What seemed like an instant later I had finished my garlic knot. I was hit by a wave of sadness, suddenly wishing I had another, or that I had at least taken this one slower. I probably wouldn't get to eat anything that good again for a long time...

“This should work,” Jay said suddenly, drawing me out of my mind.

I looked around. This area was still under construction, with several houses at various points of completion, ranging from an empty plot of land, up to a nearly finished but unpainted house. There was nobody around, which I thought was odd since it wasn't early in the day anymore. Then again, maybe everybody did their construction later in the day.

“Good choice,” Cam agreed, “Nobody important comes here. Any one in particular?”

“Any should do...” Jay trailed off, walking towards a random house. He reached for the door, but before he opened it thought better of his choice and moved to a different house, one less in view of the street.

I frowned, but followed in silence as Jay and Cam entered the abandoned house. It wasn't exactly my first choice, for living in or being in, but I didn't have an option. There was, of course, no furniture inside, but that didn't seem to bother Jay. He threw out his cloak, folded his legs, and sat down on the ground, sending some kind of dust flying. Cam, frowning, looked at the ground, but sat without a complaint. I sat to the side, between the two of them, with enough space between all of us that we could put something in the middle if we needed to.

“You can drop your invisibility,” Jay said to the air. Then, to Cam, “Let's hear it.”

I grabbed my veil with my hand and tugged on it, breaking the parts that wrapped around me. I used one hand to bundle it all up, then dropped the bundle in my lap. Once I stopped feeding it energy it would vanish. Cam nodded and began speaking.

“You know the family business had been stable for a while now,” She started, “No innovations in the past few years, no new products, but no drop in demand, and no lack of research. A lot of people like it that way. My dad has a couple advisers who basically own the company. You know, provide funds, get money back on sales, that kind of thing. Including my dad, there's seven.”

Cam certainly knew what she was talking about, or at least she sounded like it. Or maybe she was just convincing me because she sounded confident and I was almost clueless. I understand the idea of investors and advisers, not that I had even been one, but the concept was familiar to me.

Cam suddenly held out her right arm. Without a sound a large mechanical spider climbed over Cam's shoulder and onto her outstretched arm, shifting its weight and carefully walking to the end of her arm, where it reached down and hopped to the ground around us, barely disturbing the dust. I was suddenly very curious.

“I call it Clockwerk,” Cam said, “It's primarily made up of bits of metal and wood, with some magic thrown into it. This is my latest version, a working model, to scale. I built it from scratch and poured my own power into it. It'll respond to my will and, if I channel enough power into it, I can actually guide it manually and see what it sees.”

“Stars above,” I said, staring intently at the spider, “is this an artificial familiar?”

Cam shook her head. “Not quite. I can't use it to cast a spell, it's more like a receptacle, I guess. I need a talisman to channel my own magic, but I can pour it into this. It's not alive, and it doesn't think, it's just an object I manipulate.”

This was a familiar! Supposedly there was a time when magic didn't require a talisman to channel power through, anybody who had the power could simply cast magic freely. Utterly ridiculous by today's standards, it's simply not possible to use magic without a personalized talisman, but it did have a certain appeal to it...

But instead of a talisman, if you could cast magic freely, you would have a familiar of some sort. They were an animal companion that represented your power, but wasn't a source or a conduit. You didn't need to hold your familiar to cast a spell, but if they weren't nearby you couldn't use magic, so maybe it wasn't as perfect as it sounded. At least, that's how the stories I've read described it.

“Where does this demon you want me to kill come into play?” Jay asked, leaning forward and resting his chin on his hands.

I'm getting to that,” Cam took a quick breath, “the spider works like this” As Cam continued speaking the spider reared up and began to show off.

“Its got two blades, one on each front leg. One is Hell-forged, the other is Sky-forged. The goal for this model is to get close to a target and carefully place a bit of each blade against their skin. The user can see a reaction, and will be able to tell if the person is an angel or a demon disguised as a human. I have plans to rework it a bit, give it bigger blades and refine its motor skills, that way it can pull off assassinations, but right now it's not much more than something you can use to poke at someone and see if they have a disguise. But it will be expendable, if it's destroyed in the process I can make another, and damaging it won't give the user any backlash, but it isn't there just yet. Right now I only have this one.”

The spider first rose onto its hind legs, lifted its front legs to show the small blade on the inside, then walked over to Jay and pressed one leg against his. Afterward it walked back to the center and settled down. I didn't like it very much, it was too large for me to like it.

“These can't be cheap!” I started, “a blade on both ends of the spectrum in a creature like this? It must cost a fortune to make just one.”

Cam shook her head. “It costs less to make one of these than it does to make a single Sky-forged or Hell-forged blade. It's made mostly with scraps from blades that didn't fully convert, and with common materials you can take from any construction site, I could make another one with the stuff around us. It's actually really cost effective, and a very good idea, not to brag. That's why I think demons are involved.”

I flicked my ears at Cam, not understanding where she was going with his.

“You've lost me,” Jay said, not having moved at all.

“Well, I presented this idea, back when it was just a concept, to the seven who basically run the company. My dad thought it was a great idea from the start, but that's probably just because he's my dad. A few others thought it had potential, but needed a lot of work before they would consider working on it themselves. Four people were against it overall, though, so the idea was turned down. So I decided to come back with something more than a proof of concept.

“I came back with an actual version of this. A lot bigger, much heavier, clunkier, and way too hard to control for more than a few seconds, but it worked. I got approval from three people, but the same four were against it, even when I improved on it again. I thought it was odd that these four people specifically would be against this idea, and not sway even a little, so I did a little research.”

Cam put air quotes around research. I grinned, having an idea in my mind of exactly what type of research she was talking about.

“These four normally have very little to do with each other. Sure, they're rich, but there's not a lot of intersect between food, architecture, research, and clothing, so I knew something had to be up. These four have been chatting with each other and walking with each other a lot more often than they used to in the past. I mean, they have their own cars and drivers, there's no reason for them to walk.”

I sighed. Of all the things to clue her in on some conspiracy it was that rich humans weren't using their cars? Still, if it was out of character it was out of character. Wait, what were humans dealing with food, architecture, research, and clothing doing as part of the forgery trade?

“Up until now, these four have only been in it for the money. They don't care about the business, they just throw money at us and get a little more money in return. So why would they start voicing their opinions against a perfectly valid idea for advancing the field? Anyway, I used my spider to tail them, this model actually, and saw one of them slip up. For just a second, one of them had goat horns.”

In sync Jay, Cam, and the spider all turned to look at me. If I hadn't been such a calm and composed person I might have broken into a nervous sweat. Instead, I just wiped my forehead with the back of my hand and rubbed my palms on my robes, trying to count the dust mites in the room. Total composure, that's me.

I mentally took a book off its shelf and began flipping through it. My memories on demons. What did I know about demons with goat horns? Well, they weren't at a level I would call common, but they weren't rare either. I wouldn't be surprised if I was walking around and saw a demon with goat horns. If anything, they would be surprised to see me.

Would I be scared? No, not inherently. Horns didn't translate to power. Holder a glamour all day, though, might mean something. Long enough to walk from a house on one side of town to the Signata manor, sit through a meeting while talking occasionally, then walk back home, all without slipping up. For someone without a knack for it, that was impressive. Illusion type magic was my forte, glamours and veils were my best, so I wouldn't have much trouble, but I had been at this for a long time. Whoever this demon was might be at the same level.

Were they holding up a glamour for hours? If so, that could be problematic. That's a lot of power being poured into a single spell for a really long time. Now, being able to hold a glamour for several hours didn't translate directly into destructive power, but it meant the person had a lot of stamina, magically speaking. I technically had a lot of magical stamina, but I got the most out of it with illusions or light based magic.

“Your magic trick didn't see through them?” I asked Cam.

She shook her head. “Through my spider or normally, they've all looked normal except right then.”

A single question was burning through my mind. Jay and Cam were looking to me for information, but how much should I give them? If Jay asked me for everything I had on demons I could hold back, that kind of information was detrimental to my survival and I could reasonably not fully answer. But I had to say something...

At the same time, giving this kind of information to a human was very seriously frowned upon among demons. Frowned upon in the 'you're a traitor and need to die' sense of things. If anyone found out I told a human, stars above a LeMonte even, anything about demons, no matter how small or inconsequential, I wouldn't have to worry about Jay killing me. I would have already signed a death warrant.

“What makes you sure they're demons?” I asked, throwing out a nervous laugh and a forced smile. Maybe it would be enough to get me out of this. I still had hope of getting Jay to tell me to leave and then being on my way.

Jay and Cam stared at me for a moment, before turning to face each other.

“You want me to kill just that demon, or the whole group?” Jay asked. “If they're all demons then I might be willing to, but they haven't done anything wrong.”

I sighed in relief. Safe for now.

“We're a human only business,” Cam said pointedly, “no angels, no demons, no half anything, all humans. We make weapons that kill both, so hiring only humans keeps us neutral. As long as we supply to both, we can mostly get away with it. Demons have no place in our group of seven. Neither do angels, but I don't think any of them are angels in disguise.”

“Can your father throw them out? Get new members?” Jay suggested.

“It's not that easy to get someone new.” Cam sighed. “Besides, he's not so sure on this whole magic thing. Him and my mom don't have any powers, I'm the odd one out, so they basically ignore anything that has to do with magic unless it's profitable. He probably thinks I'm having someone charge my spider and link it to me.” Cam jerked a thumb at her spider, which twitched in response.

Jay sighed. “So you think all four are demons?”

“I can't be sure,” Cam shrugged. “I know at least one of them is, but I doubt the other three would knowingly let a demon into their group and be friendly with them. They're either all demons, or none of them are.”

Jay turned to me. “Do you know any ways to tell if a human is really a demon wearing a disguise?”

“Sensitive information!” I said, not looking him in the eyes. “Won't Cam's spider work? It sounds perfect for this kind of event!”

“This is the only model I have,” Cam sighed. “I can make more, but I need time. Besides, it's big enough that they'll notice it if it gets too close.”

“We can always try it if we catch them out,” Jay said. “If I take the job. I'd like a little information, though.”

I sighed, rubbing the bridge of my nose while I thought. Generic ideas to break spells and disguises, what did I have?

“Probably not just clothes. Uh, break their concentration? That can ruin basic glamours and veils. Call them out or fluster them, same concept. Anything to break their focus, otherwise a weak disguise just falls apart after being up for too long.”

“So the one who slipped was probably weak, then,” Cam mused. “Jay, this might work for your Trial.”

“What is this Trial?” I asked, hoping to divert the subject. “Everybody keeps mentioning it.”

Jay shook his head. “Later. Any other ways to break a disguise?”

I paused. I was beginning to run out of generic ideas to throw at him. If he kept pressing I might have to give him real information.

“Pain usually works,” I started. “Hard to focus if there's a knife in your shoulder. Magical, uh, interference? Throw a few spells at them and see if their glamour falls apart because they're trying to, hmm, retaliate, or block them.”

“This isn't helpful,” Jay said. “Short of killing them and seeing if they change color we're not getting anywhere. Give me more.”

“I don't know!” I said, but had to continue. “Knock them out? Dump water on them and hope it washes their spell away? Show them something beautiful so they lose focus? What do you want from me? I've told you all the normal ways to break a spell.”

“How would you do it?” Jay asked.

I froze. I had baited Jay into saying that, I had asked what he wanted, and he asked me directly how I would do it. And I knew how I would do it, because if I ever had to do it I would have a team of hand picked professionals to back me up to the point where I would be in no danger. But I didn't have that here, and Jay didn't ask for that. He asked how I would break their spell.

“I wouldn't,” I answered quietly. “I'd go through it.”

“How?” Jay and Cam asked, leaning in close.

“Physical contact.” I whispered, trying to speak so quietly they couldn't hear me. “If two demons make physical contact they can tell if the other one is a demon. It works through hosts.”

“Just touching...” Cam said, leaning back. “I never would have guessed.”

“Hosts?” Jay asked. “You mean possession?”

“Or mind control...” I mumbled, looking down at the spider.

“So he's our demon detector!” Cam declared.

“I will not!” I shouted. “They get to see I'm a demon, too! We have this... thing about avoiding contact. And even if we didn't they'll see Jay walking around with a Sky-forged sword and think 'huh, why isn't that human with the deadly weapon killing that demon? And why did he touch me, we have a rule about that. This doesn't make sense!'”

I had no problems making contact with a human, other than it being awkward and making me squirm. If I was ever around angels, which was rare, I had the same issues with them. Demons are another story. It's common in our culture to never make physical contact with another demon unless they're family or you have a very good reason that both demons can respect. The proper thing to do if you make contact is to pull away immediately. Demons either don't shake hands, or grab each others sleeves and shake that way.

“He's not a part of this.” Jay waved in my direction and looked at Cam. “Unless you want to hire him as an informant, we've basically gotten everything out of him we can. Besides, there's still the issue of the people themselves. If there are four demons, then what happened to the humans? Were they killed and impersonated? Are they being kept prisoner somewhere? I need to know this before I can commit to just killing a demon for infiltrating a business.”

Probably all possessed. I thought to myself. No way I was letting Jay get anything else out of me unless he demanded it. And if I wasn't involved in this, then why interrogate me about finding a demon? I should be getting paid!

“They could be possessed.” Jay continued, probably not reading my mind but certainly making me feel like it. “If the humans are alive and possessed they're most likely innocent, in which case we leave them be and I have a real reason to kill the demons. If they're both guilty I take out the demon and blackmail the humans. But we'll need to check out their chain of command, this might be deeper than we think.”

Now that was the kind of foresight I expected from a LeMonte, why was I happy about this? If the human was corrupt, no demon involved, then it meant there was likely corruption further down the line, and just getting rid of one human might be worse than leaving them alone. The boss is doubtfully the only one corrupt, their assistant or second in command usually knows enough and is corrupt as well. If that was the case, there were more than four humans to take out, but Jay wasn't being hired for that, and neither was I. I had no interest in killing demons.

“How much will this cost me?” Cam asked.

Now I was interested. The bill was an important part of any job, of course. At the very least there would be an investigation into the four humans Cam had pointed out, at most the murder of four demons and four humans. I wanted as little to do with murdering demons and the LeMonte family as I possibly could, but I couldn't deny the appeal of money when I just lost all of mine on a bad game of cards.

Jay had said himself, I was pretty much an informant. That meant I could send Cam a bill and get paid for my help. If all I had to do was a little investigating into some humans, then I could handle that. Not a tough job, not a lot of pay. Enough to keep me going for a few days, though, which should be enough to get back on my feet. Maybe.

Jay, however, simply shook his head. “Just put me up. Food and a place to stay, any supplies I might need for the job. That should cover it.”

“Tch.” I added quietly, clicking my tongue. What a waste, this was the perfect opportunity to earn some cash.

“If everything goes well, you're spending a few days out on the town a friend. If not...” Jay shrugged, “I guess it's my Trial.”

“What even is this Trial?” I raised my voice. “You keep talking about it like it's common knowledge! Is it some human thing? Demons don't do that!” Well, we do, but I doubted it was the same.

Jay sighed, turning to not look at me, and spoke slowly. “It's a LeMonte family tradition... Trick a demon into following you home, then kill them in some big ritual in front of the whole family. But I'm more suited to fighting, so I would instead go take a job and kill four demons in as many days.”

I had my arms folded and was ready to spit out something sarcastic, but stopped. Yeah, that was utterly horrifying and very cult-like, but there was a bigger detail in there. Jay had brought me home, and his brother had been willing to say that I followed him home. Jay could have lied and killed me in front of his family. But he had refused, instead leaving and bringing me with him.

Rule of threes: three of anything is extremely powerful in magic. Jay had saved my life not once, but twice. Strike two. One more favor and I was probably permanently bound to him, and there was no way I could repay that many favors before he killed me.

I leaned back against the wall, trying to think of something to say. Sarcasm normally flows at a time like this, but my reservoir was all dried up for some reason. I could thank Jay, maybe tell him about my contract, but that was about as appealing as death, which was almost certain given who he was. Now I needed to be dismissed twice or repay the the debt. Death looked pretty good right about now.

Actually, did that even count? Jay hadn't brought me home with the intent to kill me, so killing me would have been a happy accident, which was growing less horrifying to think about. Then again, he had turned down the opportunity from his brother. If the one who I was indebted to tried to kill me I was free to go, but if the one I was indebted to refused a perfectly good opportunity to kill me did I get more into debt? I actually didn't know, and it's not like I could ask anyone. This was more of a feeling thing, I was bound temporarily, permanently, or not at all. For now I would just have to assume it counted and hope that it didn't.

“The Trial is the first real mission,” Jay continued, “there's training and tagging along with other members of the family, but this is the first job done completely alone, no family help allowed. Once it's done, though, I'm free to do whatever I want. Including renounce the LeMonte name and go my own way.

“I don't want to kill demons just because they're demons. I planned on running while I had the Trial to work with, but if this job pans out I can return home and say I did my job, then leave. Sounds a lot nicer then being hunted down by the rest of my family, but I'm not going to kill four demons who did nothing wrong just to save myself.”

So we were both trapped, then. Jay by circumstances of birth, me by chance. This job was as much Jay's way out as mine. If I helped him with this Trial I could effectively free him, thus saving his life. Getting rid of my debt as soon as possible had to be my top priority, everything else I would have to deal with later.


	9. Chapter 9

“So who's first?” I sighed.

“You're in?” Cam was frowning.

“Yeah...” I nodded slowly. “But you'll owe me. Both of you. And I'm not helping to kill anyone. I'll investigate the humans, and if you absolutely need it I'll tell you who's a demon, but that's it.”

Jay nodded, Cam began speaking, pulling papers out of her bag.

“The first one I want to check out is Gillian.” She placed a large sheet of paper between us, her spider moving to make room. It showed a rather plump looking man's head. Thin hair covered his head, and he looked like he was perpetually sweating.

“He's a big guy, eats way too much, his suits are always too tight, and he's always sweating during meetings. He's kinda old, but no gray hair yet, and a total slob. I've heard he flirts with women half his age, if that helps in any way. Other than that, though, I don't know a whole lot. He's got some kind of deal with all the food places in town. If they make food, he's got something to do with them. No clue what he does or how he does it, but he provides a lot of money to the business, so we don't ask a lot of questions.”

“Why him first?” I asked, picking up the paper and looking at it carefully. Whoever drew it had a real eye for detail, not a lot of humans can draw this well given their short lifespans.

“He was the one who slipped up,” Cam answered casually, picking up her spider and fiddling with its front legs, “the other three didn't seem to react, though, so they might not have noticed, but I doubt this was the first time. He's got the goat horns.”

“If they're all demons then he's the way in.” Jay added.

“If he's the weakest.” I nodded. “Whats our angle?”

Cam looked to Jay.

“Like you said.” He looked to me. “Confront him and throw magic at him, or break his focus. If he's a demon, kill him. If he's possessed, get the demon out and kill them. If he's just a human, leave him be.”

“Great.” I rolled my eyes. “An, uh, direct plan? You don't need me for that. What's the real plan?”

“That's my plan,” Jay replied, staring me down, “what do you mean?”

“I mean what do you really plan on doing?” I asked. “If you want to keep me in the dark and just use me for my sense, that's, uh, okay, just say so. If not, I'd like to know how you actually plan on doing this. You don't really think going up to the guy and nicely asking if he's a demon is...” I gestured with my hand, looking for the words. Human language was frustratingly imprecise and precise at the same time. Too many words for too many meanings.

Jay frowned, thinking for a moment. “I'm only really trained in assassination and combat. But I know how to do it well.”

“That's nice.” I started, before realizing who I was talking to. “But you need a little more for this. We're not doing a regular, uh, assassination. I'm doing an investigation and handing the info to you, right? Leave the humans, find the demons?” I turned to Cam.

“Basically, but we're doing it really fast.” Cam shrugged. “And I want to leave the humans alone if we can. I'd like to avoid killing people.”

But we can kill demons just fine? Right, I'm not 'people' to them.

“We don't have that kind of time.” Jay waved my idea away. “Something like that would take weeks. We don't have that kind of time.”

“A mark each day is pretty ambitious,” I commented, frowning at the paper in my hands.

“We don't have a choice.” Jay nodded. “Find the human, see if there's a demon involved, then take out the demon. Move on to the next and do it again. We don't have to be tactical about this.”

I leaned back, thinking. I had a fair amount of experience in this field. Not assassination, but the whole planning around a mark aspect. If we had more info, maybe entire dossiers, on both the humans and the demons, I could pull off a con on each one that would get us anything we wanted. As for what we had now, though...

“It won't work.” I decided. “We can get through maybe two marks but the last two will definitely have figured something out by then and have escape plans ready. We'll be out by half.”

Everyone was silent. When I said it with such confidence it seemed like everyone believed me, but I thought it was true. We didn't have the right situation to take everybody down at once, but if we went for one a day we would probably only get half our marks. If we were assuming there were four demons, then they were probably working together. Pack bond, friendly faces, whatever it might be, they were at least in contact. If one went missing the others would know, when two went missing the rest would probably cut their losses. At least, that's what I would do.

But that might not be a bad thing. Coming to terms with being responsible for the death of four demons would be hard. But if two died I could cut down the time required before I could live with myself by half. Maybe. It was a big maybe. But it was also my life on the line, too. Stars above, was I really okay living if it meant four strangers would die? It was a big question...

“Do we have a way to keep them busy?” Jay asked the group. “Something that could keep them away from each other?”

“Like a whisper campaign?” I mumbled, gears turning.

“We have a big meeting this weekend.” Cam ignored me. “I'm bringing this spider in for review, and I made a big deal out of it. We won't have another meeting for a week after that. In theory, nobody interacts with each other between meetings.”

“We might be able to use that.” Jay nodded. “They might not be close to each other during these next few days.”

“Are there any events going on?” I asked. “This town is pretty big, so there should be something, right?”

I got a blank look from Cam. Jay just frowned at me.

“What?” I asked. “Is nothing going on?”

“In English,” Jay said.

I frowned, but repeated myself.

“No, no holidays or anything,” Cam said, picking up the momentum and turning to Jay, “I don't think we'll be getting any help there.”

“Maybe we'll get lucky,” I suggested, “maybe everyone will take care of their own business for the next few days and ignore all their friends.”

It's not perfect, far from it, but it was a start. All we really had was hope that we wouldn't go after one mark and find another one waiting for us. Or maybe we wanted that. Less investigative work for me, and I get free sooner.

But there was still the issue of progression. How would we stop the other marks from doing anything after one vanished, and who would we go after next?

“What skills do we have?” I mused.

I waited for a response, but got nothing. I looked around. Jay at Cam were looking at me warily. Ah, right, revealing secrets to a demon.

“I told you about demons.” I pouted, folding my arms. “And I agreed to lend my skills and senses. You could at least tell me what skills you have.”

“Fair trade,” Cam shrugged.

“Cam!” Jay started, standing up quickly. “Can I talk to you for a second?”

“Huh? Sure,” Cam stood slowly, and the two walked into another room.

I tapped one foot impatiently while I waited. The nerve! I shared secrets about demons and demon culture with them, albeit reluctantly. The least they could do was share a little information about themselves with me. I wasn't asking for the secret passage into some palace, just basic skills.

I took a deep breath and let it out slowly, forcing all my anger down. With another breath my foot stopped tapping, and I was focused on the air around me. It was still, and filled with dust, but pleasantly warm, and just slightly humming with my presence. My ears twitched as I focused on my hearing. The perk to having abnormal ears was abnormal hearing, so when I focused I could hear more than a human.

Voices, Jay's and Cams, floated towards me. Whispers, quieter than I should have been able to hear if I were human, came from the other room.

“...has a point though,” Cam was saying, “he gave us some good information. I didn't know about the touching thing.”

“Family knew about it for years.” Jay replied quickly, I could imagine her waving the idea away. “But he's a demon! Yeah, he can tell us about others, but that doesn't mean I'm willing to give up more information than I have to.”

“He's an informant and our detective,” Cam retorted, “and he's scared of you. He won't lie because of your sword, and he probably won't tell anyone either.”

Read me like a book.

Jay sighed. “And what if he tries to get away, or tip off our targets? They're all demons.”

“Would you kill him?” Cam asked. “I probably can't do a whole lot to him. He doesn't know the language all that well, but he made a good veil really quickly. That's tough work.”

At least someone appreciated me, if not my attempts to learn a language.

“I'm tempted to kill him,” Jay said, “he's annoying enough to push me. I'm trying to convince myself he's not worth killing... Whatever, he can have our basic skills. Just nothing too detailed, okay?”

“Alright, you're the boss.” Cam said.

When Cam finished speaking and I heard footsteps I flicked my ears and let my focus fall away. When Cam walked in she looked at me and smiled, but didn't say anything. Jay didn't smile, but I didn't expect him to. They sat down and glanced at each other before speaking.

“I can move fast.” Jay stated simply. “Faster than a normal person.”

“I can make sparks.” Cam said, pushing her hair over her shoulders and then making a fist, which had bright blue sparks flying over it. “I've also got an intuition for people lying.”

That part about intuition was probably a lie, but I didn't press it. Jay, of course, had magic suited to help him fight, though moving fast would be helpful in a lot more than fighting. Cam could throw around sparks. Maybe helpful in combat, but probably not. So overall our group had an assassin, a girl with a spider, and a reluctant demon. Wonderful.

“Can either of you grift?” I asked.

Their blank stares told me no.

“What's that?” Cam asked.

I sighed. “It's acting, but you have the goal of stealing something from whoever you're acting for, or trying to get information.”

“Disguised infiltration.” Jay said to Cam.

I rolled those words over in my mind, trying to think if I knew them. Humans had so many words that all meant the same thing, it was frustrating to need to learn so many different words when the same one should work in multiple places.

“Oh!” Cam tapped her head lightly. “I know what that is. I didn't know that was the term for it, though. No, I can't do that.”

“Jay?” I asked hopefully.

“Yeah...” Jay sighed. “I know how.”

Good, I didn't have to teach the assassin any skills that could be used against me. Cam, on the other hand, would need some help. She didn't seem like she intended to kill me, she was actually the friendlier of the two, so I shouldn't feel guilty about teaching her to act if I had to.

“But how does this help us?” Cam asked.

“If we can't just walk up to our target and fight them, then we need a plan,” Jay said, “and not being ourselves for that would be helpful.”

“So who are we?”

“Anybody.” I answered. “Just not ourselves. Who we are can change based on the mark.”

“Wait.” Cam held up a hand. “You keep saying mark, Jay is saying target. Is there a difference, or are they the same thing?”

“I'm not in this for the killing.” I rolled my shoulders, I was trying to hide my face. “I'm in this for the favor and potentially money, maybe to steal something. So to me the humans are marks, someone who I want to take something from. Not their lives, though, they can keep those.”

Jay took a moment to process what I said before he responded. “So they're your marks, but my targets. I intend them harm, they're demons, so I'll kill them.”

“I see.” I replied.

“Hmm...” Cam closed her eyes, arms folded. “I think I get it. So our first mark is Gillian, and our first target is his demon?”

“Sounds right.” Jay said.

“So where do we go from here?”

“If he has his hands in all the food business in town, then lets offer him another one.” I suggested. “He sounds like a..” I searched for the right word, but couldn't find it. “Greedy. We can use that. But we'll need disguises.”

I neglected to mention that I could put up a pretty good glamour when I had the mind to. I didn't want to use magic around a LeMonte, it would make it easier for him to know what I could and couldn't do. I also didn't want to make a convincing disguise right now, or use one of my pre-made ones in case Jay might memorize it.

“Already got one.” Cam said cheerfully. “I've got pants and other guy clothes, just like Jay. We can walk around and look like guys, I'll put all my hair in a hat.”

I paused. I could almost see the puzzle pieces in my mind connecting. Then it hit me.

“Jay, you're a girl,” I said.

“Yeah,” Jay replied.

I paused.

“You didn't know?” Jay asked, laughing.

Of course. Jay looked and sounded more like Cam than their brother. And I had heard something earlier that mentioned something like this. How had I not seen it?

“That's pretty funny, actually.” Cam started laughing too.

“It's hard to tell with humans.” I tried to defend myself, but couldn't raise my voice. “You all look the same. How am I supposed to know who's a guy and who's a girl? I can't even tell how old you are!”

“Seventeen.” Jay laughed.

“Sixteen,” Cam said at the same time.

“Stars above you're literally children.” I hunched over and put my hands on my head. “I'm being ordered around by homicidal children.”

“Any more questions?” Cam asked. “Need to know if we're humans or angels?”

I shook my head. Focus, focus. Back on track.

“Cam, you said you're paying the bill for this job, right?” I asked slowly.

Cam paused. “Don't bankrupt me,” She said.

“We need to do some shopping.”


	10. Chapter 10

“What's on our list?” Cam asked, walking next to Jay with me behind them, invisible.

“A base of operations,” Jay started, “some place that's close to our targets. I don't want to walk across town to start the day. But I want to have it far enough so we can head back there if anything goes wrong.”

“Expecting trouble?” Cam asked.

“Always,” Jay and I said in unison.

“Call it security,” I added.

“Security, huh?” Jay laughed. “I like that.”

“You're going in with the goal of killing four demons, who we know nothing about. A place far away from them would be nice. Besides, we need somewhere to sleep and store our stuff.”

“What kind of stuff are we talking about?” Cam asked. “Jay and I have all our supplies on us, and we can go out for food.”

“Mostly extra clothes, maybe some props.”

“How high end?”

“Working class,” I said, “something nice enough that we can get by talking to humans who have a lot of money, but not bad enough we can't walk around without being noticed. Something you might save up for, but not for very long.”

“Sunday best?” Cam suggested.

“I don't know what that means.” I said flatly. “So, no. We need to look like we belong with them.”

“I know a place.”

“These clothes won't be tailored,” Jay said, “you'll have to try them on after we buy them. You can't show your face.”

Really feeling the love here. I definitely belong with these two.

“I see.” I rolled my eyes. “If you're both pretending to be boys then you should dress the part. Jay, you look like you intend to kill someone.”

“I do,” Jay said quickly.

“Yes, but businessmen don't take well to assassins.”

“I'll think about it...” Jay said slowly.

Honestly, that was the most cooperative thing she'd said all day.

“Fine. Now, I'm going to need a suit, and I'm going to need you to guess my size, because I don't know how humans do it.”

“Why do you need a suit?” Cam asked. “Those can be expensive.”

“How else do I get close enough to shake our mark's hand?” I asked back. “I need to look the part.”

Cam didn't say anything, but she did make her hand into a fist and bump her wrist against her head a few times. Very funny.

“If I get too close to a demon under a veil they might want to fight.”

“Okay, okay.” Cam laughed. “I'll get you a suit. Anything else?”

“Boots and gloves,” I said.

“Fancy!” Jay laughed, rolling her eyes.

“This doesn't seem very cost effective.” Cam added.

“You're the one who wants a demon's help killing four others. I should charge extra.”


	11. Chapter 11

“This works,” I said, lightly tapping both girls on their shoulders.

“You sure?” Cam frowned, looking at the inn I had stopped us in front of.

It was by no means something rich humans would stay in, but it wasn't a place I normally slept in either. It was safely middle class. Nice enough for a traveler to spend a few nights at without draining their wallet. Unfortunately, all the inns and bars were located in one section of the city, which was on the edge, near the wall. At this point, this inn was as good as any other.

“We don't need to live like kings,” I told Cam, “and if anyone tails us back here we want to make sure we're staying in a proper place.”

“Heh, tail.” Cam laughed. “You're a cat.”

I was about to say something very rude, but Jay spoke first.

“Did we already start grifting?” She looked around carefully.

What was it my mother had said? You're always acting, on display for someone else? Something like that...

“We're always grifting.” I decided on. “We should be in character before we can even see the door.”

“Whatever.” Cam rolled her eyes. “I'll get us a room.”

I took in this building while I had the time. It was tall, three floors tall. The bottom floor had exactly one window on it, but it was grimy and I couldn't see through it. It was made of the same wood as every other building, the lower quality kind meant for the wealthy and not the extravagantly wealthy. I didn't see a stone base, though. Did this building not have one?

The door opened and Cam waved us over. Jay pushed the door open a little more than necessary, allowing me ample room to enter, thank you very much.

The building inside was about as I expected from the outside. It looked like a bar, with several tables scattered around the room, some of which had well dressed men sitting at them, playing cards. The ground was so scraped and scuffed by chairs that I couldn't make out the original color of the wood anymore, and the air felt thick with cigar smoke. High class enough to work. For now.

Jay and I followed Cam to a set of stairs, which we followed up and walked down a short hall and entered the final door. This room was very simple. A single window with dull green curtains blocking the view, and three beds propped up on wooden frames, each with a blanket and one pillow. As long as nobody came in while we were talking, this place would do nicely.

“What's our plan?” Cam asked after locking the door and falling onto the bed furthest from the window.

“Let's talk order.” Jay decided, taking the middle bed, leaving me with the one by the window. “Who's first?”

“Weakest to strongest?” Cam suggested.

“Do we have the kind of information?” I rolled my eyes, making sure that the curtains were closed. I didn't want anybody looking in, even if we were on the second floor.

“Well, not really,” Cam said slowly.

I sat on the edge of my bed, it was fairly comfy, and looked to Jay. “When you hunt multiple targets how do you go about it?” I neglected mentioning that her targets were likely my kin...

“Would you like to know?” Jay asked casually, grinning wolfishly. “Strongest to weakest. If you can't take out the top at full power you can't take them out at all. The rest should be easy by comparison.”

I frowned, but mentally wrote that down in my book on the LeMonte family. It was a small book, but every hour or so I found something worth writing in it.

“Most to least expendable, in this case.” I surmised. “That is because we need to control the chain of information.”

“What do you mean by that?” Cam asked, sitting up.

I really didn't want to have to explain this, but it was better if I did.

“Let's... work as though there are four demons, each one possessing a human,” I started.

“Big if,” Jay muttered, rolling her eyes and laughing.

This was going to be real hard if Jay wouldn't at least play along, but I continued anyway. “If this is the case, then they'll be working together in some way, which means they're... communicating with each other. Most likely this happens during physical interaction, such as your business meetings, or personal meetings between the demons. If this Gillian is the weakest, or is possessed by the weakest, then he's the most expendable. It also means if there's nobody with a specialty of gathering information, he would maybe hear the most information other than the leader, though he might not know what it all means.”

“So he's a pawn?” Jay chipped in. “Essentially there to be thrown away unless they can suddenly be useful?”

“Very cold way of putting it, but yes,” I agreed, “this pawn is our regular guy, who has his ear to the ground and listens to what's going on, and probably hears more than we might think. At the first sign of trouble he'll set off an alarm and then everybody knows that there's a problem.”

“We're removing their early warning system.” Cam nodded, finishing the thought. “They lose access to their primary source of information, they're running blind.”

“Exactly!” I snapped my fingers. Bright girl, Cam. “Assuming that Gillian is a valid target, we take him out first. Once he's gone the rest should be blind. Well, in theory.”

“Theory?” Jay asked. “What about reality?”

“It might not work like that.” I shrugged. “This guy could be so useless that he actually doesn't know anything and is there just because they need a fourth person for majority rules. If that's the case, taking him out should be easy, but all for all doesn't help us take out anyone else. Or there might be an information specialist and after we take out this guy our whole plan is ruined.”

A lot of what I was saying was based on the idea that our opponents were very smart and knew what they were doing. I would guess their 'weakest' player would be one who could get around quickly and blend in well for a lot of information, but not someone who was great in a fight.

“So we need more information.” Jay finished, grabbing the hilt of her sword. “We're running blind.”

“There is that.” I agreed, eying Jay's sword carefully. She hadn't drawn it yet, though she'd been tempted. I was guessing it was her serious sword, meant for moments when she really wanted to take someone out.

“So Gillian is our first target?” Cam asked.

“Right.” Jay nodded.

“Okay.” I sighed, rubbing the bridge of my nose, this part was going to be fun. “What's the plan?”

Cam frowned. “I thought you had the plan?”

I may have been doing something similar to this for a few years but there was no way I was going to use an actual thought out plan with a LeMonte around.

“It's not my show,” I said carefully, “I'm here to investigate and tell you who's a demon.”

“So I have to come up with a plan?” Jay asked.

“It is your Trial, Jay,” Cam said.

I frowned, but waited patiently. Jay started mumbling to herself, maybe thinking out her plan, maybe cursing her luck at getting stuck with me. It wasn't a big deal either way, I wasn't supposed to be in charge. I should be safe and sound in the back of the group until I make contact with our mark. Perks to being a demon, everyone looks at you. Perk to being a Tolrand, everybody wants to pet you. Well, a perk in this case. Normally just a hassle.

“Just a straight assassination, then,” Jay said, looking up.

I rolled my eyes, but didn't say anything. I had turned down this idea once.

“We go knock on his door,” Jay continued, “and have Orion shake his hand or something. If he's a demon I move in, if he's not, we just leave. We know where he lives, right?”

“Yeah, we do,” Cam said excitedly, “We can take the trolley!”

“Stuff like that works?” I asked, trying not to laugh. If the plan was this simple maybe I had nothing to fear from this LeMonte.

“Yeah,” Jay said, “I've been hunting a lot longer then you have, so I know how assassinations work.”

“I was almost impressed.” I mumbled, careful to say it in my native tongue. “Yes, lead the way, I'll tell you if he's a demon or not..”

“You don't sound convinced,” Cam said.

“I'm not,” I replied, “but it's not my job to come up with the plan.”

“Like you could come up with something better.” Jay rolled her eyes and folded her arms.

“This is just as bad as no plan,” I said, “you can't just walk up to him and ask if he's a demon. If he sees me he's going to avoid shaking my hand directly because that's what demons do.

“Then what do you think we should do?” Cam asked.

“Come up with an actual plan,” I shrugged.

“If you're so down on my plan then what would you do?” Jay asked, glaring at me.

“Come up with an actual plan.” I repeated. It answered her question, just not how she wanted it.

“Fine,” Jay said, “then disguise yourself as a human and do all the work for us.”

I frowned. That was technically an order.

“I wasn't hired for that,” I replied quietly, trying to think of a way out of this. Words were my allies, I could talk my way through this.

“You're acting all high and mighty, so go ahead, do the work,” Jay gestured towards me, “Come on, you said you'd help, so help.”

“Just my senses!” I argued.

“You said your skills, and you seem to think one of those skills is making plans. Go ahead, come up with a better plan than mine!”

In all honesty I probably could. If I sat down for a few minutes and just thought about the situation I could come up with a plan that might get us at Gillian without any major problems. I wouldn't do that, though. Doing so would mean using some tricks I had learned by doing similar things in the past, and then revealing that to a LeMonte assassin, and I couldn't do that under any circumstances. It quite literally could get me killed.

So I decided to stay silent, hoping that if I did Jay would say something to invalidate her order.

“That's what I thought.” Jay laughed. “We're going with my plan. Orion disguises himself and does all the work for us.”

“Fine,” I muttered, folding my arms though immensely relieved. “But you'll have to follow my lead, then.”

“What?” Jay glared at me.

“If you want me to talk to Gillian than you need to let me set up the situation and you need to go along with it.” This seemed like a reasonable request to me.

“I'm not taking orders from you.” Jay's glare was ice cold.

“You asked for my help,” I shrugged, “this is how I can help.”

“Jay,” Cam said, twirling her hair idly, “let's try this. We'll give the demon's plan a go, and if it doesn't work, we can do things your way. What's one night to a trained assassin?”

I held my breath and kept my expression neutral. I still didn't like Cam very much, but she was standing up for me right now. Well, more than any other human ever had. I could appreciate that. She also seemed to be the voice of reason in the pair.

“Whatever,” Jay sighed, “but if he gives me stupid orders I'm going to kill him.”

“Noted.” I said quietly.

“How about this?” Cam suggested. “Lets all go on a walk and meet back here in a little bit?”

“Whatever.” Jay grumbled.

“Here,” Cam turned to me and pulled a few coins and bills out of one of her pockets, “go do something and come back when it's dark. There's a hundred bars around here, I'm sure one of them will let you in.”

I accepted the money but gave Cam a suspicious look. What was her plan here? Get me and Jay out of the same room for a while? I could understand and respect that, but was that all there was to it? Did she have some kind of plan? No, I was being paranoid. Being near a LeMonte makes demons do that.

I put on my costume for the night, boots, a large coat which covered most of my body, gloves, and a hat. What kind of hat was this again? Top hat? Wide and circular rim, slight curve up at the end, center was a large cylinder with a different color at the top? Maybe, I didn't know most of the words for human fashion.

I left the inn, raising my shoulders and dropping my gaze down so nobody could see I was a demon. The only part of me anyone could see was my face and neck, though when I raised my shoulders like I did the collar of my coat covered my neck, and shadows covered my face. For all intents and purposes I was a human.

I didn't like it.

Here I was, in the biggest and most exciting city this side of the world, and I was stuck bound to a LeMonte and helping her to kill demons. Stars above the only reason I was alone right now was because I had pissed off the LeMonte and the voice of reason told me I needed to not be in the same room. Quite the day so far, and it wasn't even over.

I thought about the plan again. It was just going to be Jay's plan. Since she was so eager to jump right in I would let her. Walk up, knock on the door, and shake Gillian's hand. Maybe I could shake his actual hand, or grab his arm and with my other hand grab his hand. Either way, I would have to take off my gloves, and there was no mistaking me for a human after that.

How would it turn out? My part would go well, I was confident about that. I could act, I could trick just about anybody and convince them that I was anyone else, but what about Jay's part? What if she decided not to help me out if something went wrong? No, she wouldn't do that, it would be too good an opportunity. She could take out two demons at the same time. That was a comforting thought.

I opened the door to a bar which, as Cam had mentioned took everyone, and looked around. 'All Welcome' was written on a pillar just past the door, the ink was faded but it was there. Essentially it meant that demons or angels, mostly demons, could order drinks or food here and not get harassed simply for existing. More than anything right now I needed some kind of distraction.

This building I liked. It was made of brick and mortar, relatively new compared to all the other wood and stone buildings floating around. At least this building would withstand a fire, if the wooden supports didn't burn down. This bar was actually set up very similarly to the one on the first floor of the inn. The tables were in different spots, and the men playing cards weren't as well dressed, but there was still a counter with a man behind it to order food and drinks from.

I took off my hat as I walked in, and chose a table where two humans and another demon were playing cards. I sat down quietly, set my hat down on my staff, which I leaned against my chair, and quietly asked to join the next round.

What was I doing at a table playing cards? This is what had gotten me in this whole situation to begin with.

“New 'round here?” The human to my right asked.

“Just got to town.” I flicked my ears and leaned back in my chair. Confident, but not cocky, that was a pleasing enough personality.

“Family?” The demon asked. Blue eyes. Interesting. Some human in his blood. Must be young.

“None here.” I sighed. “Looking for work. Something clean. Business, you know?”

“Won't get far with those ears.” Blue eyes looked at my ears.

“That's fine,” I watched as the rough voiced human dealt cards, “I've got a little skill with magic.”

“Anything good?” The other human, green shirt, asked.

“Nothing stunning.” I looked at the cards I had been handed, tapping my fingers on the table and then glaring at the dealer. “I know a few things about theory, though.”

“Interested in angels?” Blue eyes asked.

“Always,” I answered, the correct response when asked by a demon.

“There's a man, human,” Blue eyes told me, “he's in the angel killing business, the clean side. Could always use another skilled theorist.”

Hell-forged weapons. The clean side of any war was weapons. Of course, not as clean as not having a war at all, but there's no way to make a profit like that without one. Besides, not like the weapon seller or researchers killed anyone. Not directly, at least. Whatever helps them sleep at night, none of my business.

“Tempting,” I admitted. Working in the research field payed well, and it was mostly anonymous. Nobody would know who I was, and I would have all day to try out crazy plans. “But I'm looking for something a little less gritty. Still, I'll take what I can get at this point.”

“Gritty?” Blue eyes laughed. “I run for the guy, seems pretty clean to me.”

“Maybe.” I shrugged. “But there's more money in it if you work both sides.”

Blue eyes tipped his head in acknowledgment, but said nothing. Despite us having a full volume conversation as the only two demons in the place, about killing angels no less, the buzz in the air hadn't faded. I guess talk of angels and racism was natural in a setting like this.

“Dammit,” I hissed, giving up my hand. Nothing good.

“All luck,” Blue eyes commented, not really looking at me.

“Yeah, whatever,” I waved vaguely at my discarded hand. I'm not much of a lucky guy.

Green shirt coughed. “You do any labor?” He eyed me carefully.

“Not particularly.” I sighed and folded my arms. “Few years ago I ran materials for some guy out west. Paid well enough. I'm not cut out much for physical stuff.”

“There's a guy in town, old man who needs some help.” Green shirt suggested. “Been working for him for eight years. Pays me well and gives me time off for my family. The... other folk we work with say the same thing. Could probably ask for something light.”

Other folk was human speech for angels and demons. He probably didn't want to give me any ideas about it being a human and demon only company. Such a nice guy, trying to spare my feelings or something. Still, he was being generous enough to tell me about a job, I might as well respond in kind.

“Maybe he'll let me write numbers.” I shrugged. “What's his name?”

“Denaris.” Green shirt said. “Lives on the north end of the housing district. Knock loud, man's getting up in years.”

Well, at least I had potential jobs lined up after I got out of this. If I got out of this. Stars above what did I want to do after this? What did I want to do before this? Not a lot of work would keep me sane for long. I was sitting here playing cards despite losing all my money the last several times I tried it.

But I took the new set of cards I was handed without complaint. Better, but not by much. With a little luck I might make something out of this. With my luck the past day and a half, though, I was more likely to get the table flipped on me than actually make a good hand.

I started tapping my foot, a little too loudly. I was fidgety. I didn't like sitting so close to other humans or demons, the table was half the size of a demon table, and my boots felt uncomfortable. In no uncertain terms I was still seeking some kind of distraction. One of these three might have info on another, more guaranteed job, and I wanted it. Well, I wanted to win, but that was besides the point.

“You find a good place in town to get boots?” I asked blue eyes. “I can't get a tailored pair, and nobody seems to make any that fit paws.”

“Paws?” Blue eyes asked, glancing over his cards at me. I flicked my ears. “No place I know sells boots like that ready made. Might be able to custom order a pair.”

“Know a place?” I asked, looking at the card I was just handed. Nice!

“Merchant sect. Know the big set of stalls set up in a huge circle?”

“Nearly got trampled passing through, how could I forget?” I hadn't actually been to the area, nor did I know it, but it got a chuckle out of blue eyes. Charisma was my middle name. Sometimes.

“That's the one. Lady runs a shop, big place, sells all kinds of clothes. So long as you can pay she'll take your business.”

“Got a name?” I watched the faces and eyes of the other players. Nobody was giving away any hints, they were skilled. Or tired.

“Starts with an S, I think.” Blue eyes frowned. “Sarah, maybe? She's a tall woman, human. I think she's kind of old, not sure.”

“Hard to tell with humans,” I said, both of us laughing for a moment over that, “I'll check it out next time I pass by. Hopefully she doesn't take me for all I've got.”

“She might,” Blue eyes replied, “she's supposed to be big news or something.”

Not a bad conversation. I got a lot of information, and I had a decent hand now. From the looks of it, I might actually win this round. And if I managed to get through this thing with the LeMonte I might be able to find some work I could stick with for a bit.

I perked my ears up at a familiar sound, one I didn't hear very often. Padded feet walking. The soft tap as someone with paws walked through the room. My species is somewhat rare, though nobody gets confused seeing one every now and then. We're anti-social, despite how easily I can sometimes carry a conversation, and seeing two in the same room is very rare. Hearing someone who resembled me certainly caught my attention.

Placing my cards face down, no, I'm not giving up this hand, I turned towards the entrance to see who had walked in. In fact, the whole bar seemed to look. There was a collective disinterest, though, once everyone saw that a woman with ears and a tail walked in. Well, I was still looking, so was Blue eyes.

Dark fur, a woman after my own heart. She wore a bright red... calling it a dress would make any human pause for thought, it was more of a shirt, really. Demon standards of decency are different, though. I like wearing sleeves, but humans prefer demons to wear shirts and pants, or a dress if you're like that.

This woman looked towards my table, paused at blue eyes, then on me. I didn't break eye contact. I blinked once, flicking my ears. The woman flicked hers in response. I took one last look at my hand, regretting that I didn't have a chance to win, but thought 'to hell with it' and stood, walking to the counter and taking a seat. The woman sat next to me in silence. We stared each other down.

She offered me her hand. I took it.

A picture began to form in my mind; the woman, but cloaked in and surrounded by shadow. She began walking, passing someone who looked vaguely human. She ran her hand over their shoulder, briefly slowing to whisper something in their ear. When she continued walking the cloak of shadows wrapped itself around her, changing shape. When it vanished in place of a demon stood a human with bright red hair and a red dress that was much more modest.

She continued walking, passing an angel. She leaned forward, but didn't touch the angel. When she stepped away the cloak of shadows appeared again, this time adjusting the back of her dress to a fishnet pattern, which bright white wings spread out of, a glowing halo appearing above her head, resting just above where her ears should be.

Finally, she passed a demon. She didn't look at this one or even slow down. Her wings folded, her halo vanished, and her cloak formed back into her small red dress, though she looked like an entirely different demon at this point. This mental image of the woman turned and stared directly at me, the image slowly fading from my mind.

I would be lying if I said I had never experienced something like that before. I had been alive a fairly long time, and I'd seen the innermost workings of many demons. I had seen who they were, who they aspired to be, who they had feared the might become, all at the same time. I had no idea what they had seen when they looked into me, but I usually walked away with a good sense of who they were and what they liked.

But not this time, I hadn't gained much of anything. Whatever this demon had seen in my mind had told her much more about me than I learned by looking into her. I had never before seen something so surface level. All I had seen was her appearance. Clearly she valued it, and she was no doubt a master of glamours, better than me, working them on the fly to the point of imitating angels, but that was all I had seen. No other types of magic, no fears, no hopes, nothing. She seemed more confident in her illusions than humans were that the sun would rise each morning.

Strange was the best word to describe the woman at this point, but curious was the word to describe my interest. Nothing other than illusion magic, huh? I'd say I was in the same boat, but I usually kept a few spells on reserve. This woman probably didn't need more than her illusions, though. Not with her skill.

I had several questions on my mind, but pushed them away. I dropped into Script, the language of demons, when I spoke. “Quite the charm you work.”

The woman tilted her head, keeping eyes locked on mine. Dark red.

“Turning everyone's head when you entered?” I tilted my head towards the door, maintaining eye contact. “Not a lot of demons have the confidence to do that.”

I called it a charm, but it was nothing as complex as that. It was really just the way you presented yourself when you walked in a room. Confident air, powerful walk, and a little bit of luck on the volume level, and you had yourself an entrance.

I dropped my eyes, watching her tail patiently move back and forth.

“Or the looks.” I continued.

The woman leaned forward, placing one elbow on the table and her chin in her hand. Her eyes moved to my ears, which twitched nervously.

“You speak well.” She said, her voice soft, also in Script. “And your accent...”

I grimaced. Yeah, a different one than when I spoke the human language. My Script sounded a little old fashioned, touched with that air of superiority found in the old world. My English sounded like every other demon who spoke it. Guess I had an accent everywhere, now that I thought about it.

“I come from an old school of thought,” I replied.

“Very old-world,” She nodded, “ and very formal. Have you tried the new dialect?”

“No,” I said flatly, “I taught myself their language, I'm not relearning mine for them.”

Supposedly there was a new version of Script in the works. Something that mixed it with the human's language a little more. In theory, teaching myself that should be easy since I knew the two languages it came from. If I did, though, I wouldn't have a reason to speak either of them again. I was fine how I was.

“You came to me.” The woman abruptly changed the subject. “So I take it you want something. What is it?”

I briefly considered my words, thinking about how she had walked in and settled on me, but realized that I was already halfway through a sarcastic comment.

“I'm guessing most men look at you with one goal in mind.” I finished, smirking, then frowning. That was stupid. Why did I say that?

“Is it your goal, too?” She asked, returning my smirk.

“I won't deny it's on my mind.” I shrugged. “But as a fellow actor I have a more professional interest as well.”

“Oh?” She smiled. “And what makes you think I'm an actor?”

I smiled back, and whispered quietly. “Working your shadow into a glamour? Clever, it's never even crossed my mind, but it's useless if you can't talk like everyone else.”

“It's a skill we all have.” The woman shrugged, her shadow remaining absolutely still. “Some more than others.”

I'll be honest, I had never actually considered using my shadow during glamours, let alone any other spell. Having an extra set of hands could be very helpful. Well, maybe an extra set of hands. It was something to play around with, but I didn't know the limits of it. I knew my body well, but not my shadow.

“But you're looking for more.” The woman continued. “An actor, correct? Are you interested in a job, perhaps?”

“Perhaps.” I admitted. “Though consider me booked for the next few days.”

The woman nodded, her smile fading slightly. “You're not performing publicly, I take it. Do you know who?”

“Not you, I hope.” I laughed. She was referring to who my mark was, though she was probably under the impression I was tricking some human with my skills.

“Consider me a spectator, then.” She gestured vaguely with her hand. “Though you've piqued my interest.”

“Always happy to entertain.” I gave a little fake bow.

“But I do want to know... How many friends are you working with? Three or two?”

My smile disappeared. This woman knew much more than she let on.

“Two,” I answered warily, “and they're not friends.”

“No?” The woman waved over the man behind the bar. “Not yet, then?”

“Not ever,” I forced, “I'm not interested in them.”

The woman tilted her head. “Hmm. Not the freedom you're searching for, then?”

I blinked.

“You're very well informed.” I said, leaning on my arm. “Just how do you get all this information?”

I shivered suddenly. I looked behind me, at my tail. It was curling on its own. Actually, it wasn't on its own. The shadow of a certain female demon was leaning their back against mine, holding the shadow of my tail and twirling it the same way Cam twirled her hair.

“Information is available to those who listen.” The woman said, laughing. Her shadow let go of my tail and moved back to mirror its owner.

“That's... concerning.” Never lost for words, that's me.

“They're not amateurs,” The woman waved her hand, ignoring my fumble. “Nol and Aundor have worked games like this before. They'll know a con when they see one. You'll need something neither game nor direct should you seek victory.”

“And you called me old world.” I rolled my eyes, then indicated her shadow. “And this?”

“Well, I can't give you all the answers.” The woman winked at me. Wonderful.

Those names worried me. Nol and Aundor. I didn't know them personally, but their names I distantly knew of. Common demon names? I didn't think so, but they were probably powerful, or at least very smart if they were running a game. This meant Cam was right, there were demons in the forgery trade.

So who were they? And who was this woman? She didn't seem angry I was after these four demons, but she wouldn't be if she didn't consider me a real threat. Was this her area of town and she just wanted to let me know she was aware of me? I doubt she would speak to me directly if that was her goal. Then again, I was around a LeMonte often, and every demon respected them, no matter how powerful they were.

“How does someone like you get this confident?” I decided to ask.

Her smile returned. “Years of practice. How does dear little Orion end up like you have?”

So she knew me. Or, at least, she knew of me. A demon's life span can be a painful thing, sometimes. I guess my past was catching up to me.

“Not enough practice.” I mumbled.

“Then consider this practice. And your interview.” She held eye contact with me.

She clearly had no intentions of stopping me. Stars above she was encouraging me, though it didn't seem like she intended to provide any substantial help. Then again, information is power, and she had given me some. She wasn't an ally, but I wouldn't call her my enemy. In this line of work, that was a good thing. You don't need friends to do this job, just professionals. And this woman fit the bill.

“So.” I began. “How did you find me?”

“Simple.” She said. “I've been watching you for a while now.”

That was more than a little concerning. If she'd been watching me for a while then she might know a lot about my situation, including that I was bound to a LeMonte. She also knew for a fact that I was helping this LeMonte take down four demons, who I now knew existed for a fact.

“Those demons,” I started, “what did you tell them about me?”

“Your name,” She shrugged, “and that you had a very heavy hitter with you.”

Great. She hadn't told them it was a LeMonte, but if she said a heavy hitter they might have already guessed that. Hopefully Nol and Aundor didn't know me or of me, otherwise they would have an advantage. Well, maybe not. Jay would be the one running things, hopefully. I would just be riding along.

“Why?” I asked, vaguely.

She shrugged. I'm not sure what I expected. I hopped off my stool, then gave the woman a slight bow.

“You have me at a disadvantage.”

“Scarlet.” The woman said, reaching out to shake my hand.

“I hope I live long enough to get your real name.” I said, shaking her hand.


	12. Chapter 12

I met with Cam as I was leaving the bar. She had changed to look more like a boy. She wore trousers and a button down shirt, I couldn't make out the exact color in the low light but she was wearing darker clothes. Her hair was all behind her head, held together by the front legs of her spider, which were sticking out from under a small cloak that went past her shoulders. The next set of legs were hanging on her shoulders. I wouldn't have said she looked like a boy, but humans might.

“Jay left,” Cam said.

“Of course.” I rolled my eyes and sighed. “Where did she go?”

“Gillian's house. Said you were taking too long.”

“You sent me away,” I pointed out.

“Well, we should go,” Cam motioned for me to follow as she turned around.

We walked in silence for a few moments before I decided I didn't like that.

“Do you want me to braid your hair?” I asked, gesturing towards the spider holding Cam's hair.

“No thanks,” Cam said, eyes looking to me for a moment before going back to the street in front of her, “it's better if it's free.”

“Okay. Then, what do you think of my request? To follow my orders if I'm leading?”

“Honestly? I don't really care. There's no point to having a plan here, Jay does what she wants. Doubt we're going to actually do anything with your plan, Jay probably already broke into Gillian's house.”

I sighed. “No subtlety.”

“And you had a better idea?” Cam laughed.

“More so than breaking into Gillian's house.” I rolled my eyes. At the very least the entrance should be planned.

“How did you get mixed up with Jay?” Cam asked suddenly, her spider's head turning to look at me. Creepy.

“Got myself in trouble.” I dropped into an accent, pretty much ignoring the letter t. Hmm, not sure I liked that. “She helped me out.”

“And now you're repaying her?”

“This is work, you're the only one paying.” I had no intention of telling Cam about my contract with Jay. If either of them knew I would be in a whole new world of trouble. It would be best to just get everything over with and hope I found a solution to my problem on the way. “How about you?”

“We've been friends for a few years.” Cam replied. “Since we were kids. Jay's sister, Seline, would bring her over when she needed new weapons.”

“You're still kids,” I adjusted my collar and tilted my hat slightly, trying to imagine myself at sixteen years doing something crazy like this, “even by human standards.”

“And you're old?” Cam asked, laughing.

“Older than you.” I replied. I was by no means ancient, though I was barely an adult by demon standards. Basically a kid myself. I at least had some knowledge in my head and some defeats beaten into me.

“Is that why you say you know about stuff like this? You've been doing it for a while?” She indicated my clothes and the way I was holding my staff, like it was a prop instead of a necessity.

“You work in any field long enough you learn a few things.” I decided, not really answering the question. “But yeah, I've been doing stuff like this for a while. Looking for more?”

“Was I that obvious?” Cam asked cynically, both her eyes and her spider's head rolling in sync. Must be nice having that tight control over anything.

“You're not pushing?” I asked a moment later, now curious. Most humans I had met felt entitled to know everything I knew simply because they had asked.

“Not my business.” Cam shrugged, turning us down an alley. “We're not friends, and I doubt you want to be friends with me. I don't expect you to tell me your life story, and you hopefully don't expect me to tell you mine.”

I nodded, though she couldn't see it, I was walking a pace behind her now. “Very professional of you. If you ask nice enough I might just share some history with you. Otherwise, just... colleagues.”

“I can live with that.” Cam put her hands behind her head. “Despite what you might think, I don't hate demons.”

“Really?” I asked. “Best friends with a LeMonte? Daughter of the forgery trade? Spider made with plans to assassinate demons? I'd think you hate my guts.” I should have felt a small surge of pride at using a word I had picked up earlier, this language was difficult, but moved on from it quickly.

“I don't have time to hate you.” Cam replied casually. “I've got too much work to do. Give me a reason to hate you, though, and I'll make time for it.”

“Hmm.”

So far I had met two humans completely different from everything I knew. Jay, a LeMonte, who was trained to kill demons and angels on sight and without mercy, but she didn't kill me on sight, she saved me. She would kill me if she wanted to, I had no doubt, but she hadn't yet. Very odd.

And then there was Cam. A girl who came from power and had a whole lot of resources available to her, but she didn't seem like some spoiled rich kid. Granted, she was trying to advance the demon killing field, but it also worked against angels, so I couldn't hate her for staying neutral.

Maybe I wasn't reading either of these girls correctly. They were both so odd and unlike all the other humans I had met. Maybe it was because they were younger, but I got the sense that they weren't the worst humans in the world. Well, maybe the LeMonte was pretty bad, but I don't think I hated either of them.

Now for the real question: If they were good humans, how did I get mixed up with them?


	13. Chapter 13

Gillian's house was not what I was expecting. Yes, I was being over dramatic when I imagined it, but I still expected something more. A drawbridge, maybe, or a moat with alligators in it. That was excessive, but it still felt right. If I could picture this Gillian as a villain I wouldn't feel bad about helping a LeMonte get at him, right?

But this was just a normal house, it wasn't special in any way. Yeah, it was large and extravagant, but so were all the other houses around it. It was big, it was extra, it was painted, and it looked like it belonged to a rich snob.

As Cam and I rounded a corner I saw Jay, standing at the door to this house, knocking loudly and impatiently. She hadn't changed, she still looked like a young male assassin, and she was standing like she was looking for a fight. I walked over quickly.

“Jay!” I hissed. “What are you doing?”

“Taking care of this,” she replied, glaring at me.

“We had a plan!” I threw my hands in the air.

“You had a plan,” Jay sneered, “I have mine. We'll see which one works.”

“You told me to do the work! Why would you do that if you were going to run ahead?”

For a single instant we both froze. The doorknob turned and the door opened. A very large man in a tight looking suit answered the door. He was bald, but had a thick brown mustache, and was wiping his sweating head with a handkerchief. He had beady brown eyes and looked tired.

I dropped into a persona and recovered instantly. Jay, maybe from combat experience, maybe just because she was a LeMonte, recovered almost as quickly. I spoke first.

“Evening!” I said, realizing I didn't have an verbal quirk. “Call me Moroe. I have a business opportunity for you.”

“Business?” The large man asked. “At this time of night?”

“Business waits for no man, Gillian,” I replied, “a man like you knows this.”

“Y-yes, of course,” Gillian seemed to compose himself.

“You have an office?” I asked, gesturing behind him.

“Yes. What is this about?”

Before I could get in another word Jay walked through the door, pushed past Gillian, and walked down the hall, turning into the first room she saw.

“Excuse me!” Gillian said, looking back and forth between Jay and myself.

“Sorry about that,” I apologized, forcing my way past Gillian and following Jay, grateful that Gillian seemed to be too moronic to understand we just broke into his house technically.

Jay was standing in a small little office. There was a wooden desk, a large number of papers scattered across it. The floor was covered in plush carpet, and the walls had tapestries on them. Several light bulbs illuminated the room, and it was overly warm.

“Jay!” I hissed quietly, again. “What are you doing?”

“You're taking too long.” Jay glared at me, moving to the other side of the room and opening a window. “Hurry it up.”

“Why are you so difficult?” I asked, following Jay to the window, noticing Cam walk over to it and stand just out of sight.

“You're here for your senses, remember? So do your thing.” Jay said quickly. “Just hurry it up. I want to get as many demons tonight as I possibly can.”

I rubbed the bridge of my nose and then started to take my gloves off. This was going to be a long four days if her orders kept pushing me like this.

“Sorry about that,” I said when Gillian entered the room, “they're normally not this bad.”

I turned and forced my hand into Gillian's, shaking it roughly. A moment later, my vision went dark. I was no longer in his wooden office, but instead inside of what looked like a large bakery. Gillian sat in front of a gigantic oven, maybe it was twenty feet tall, sweating. He reached into the oven and pulled out a large cake, frosting and all, and began devouring it like a starving animal. It was a miracle he didn't choke, he ate it so quickly. Then he reached into the oven and grabbed another one.

As I watched Gillian grew fatter and fatter. His suit was tearing and eventually ripped entirely, falling to the ground as nothing but scraps of fabric. This was just disgusting, gluttony through and through, and the worst of it. He didn't seem to want to stop, either, he just kept reaching into the oven and pulling out more cakes.

I turned behind me when I heard the sound of someone crying, which only added to my confusion. I turned until I found the source, a small demon, humanoid but with dark goat-like horns and redish skin, leaning against a wall and crying. Not a sob, a much more powerful cry, the kind that racked their whole body as they drew in breath and forced out more tears, which had formed a puddle on the ground. Neither of these two did anything by halves.

The sobbing stopped suddenly. The demon turned to face me, eyes puffy and swollen from crying, and stared at me directly. I couldn't go deeper than I already was, but I could tell that this demon was possessing Gillian. I could feel anger. A whole lot of anger.

When my vision returned to Gillian's office I tried to mentally process what I had just seen. I wasn't an expert at interpreting the innermost workings of demons, but I knew enough to be sure that what I had seen was in no way normal.

I couldn't see inside a human like I just had, I could only do that with demons. If there was a demon possessing a human, I would see the demon, the human wouldn't be involved at all. Yes, Gillian was possessed by this demon, I wouldn't have seen them crying in the corner otherwise, but that didn't feel like the end of it. Possession was all or nothing, as was this method of viewing a demon. The demon was supposed to have full control, or none, except for short stretches of time, but there was a human there. The demon was in control, but there was a human there.

I got the same amount of information overall, but less individually. I knew Gillian was a glutton, but he didn't seem to be in control. I knew there was a demon linked with him in some way, but why was Gillian there at all? Was Gillian such a big part of this demon's life that he would warrant showing up inside his mind? This didn't make any sense.

And I didn't get any kind of magic or specialty from this. I always got a specialty, unless the demon had no magic, but I didn't get one. Did this demon have no magic? No, I would have known that they didn't have magic. What was going on? What was I missing?

Jay grabbed my shoulder and shook me, roughly. “Hey, come on!”

I shook my head, moving away from Jay. Why did she have to keep touching me?

Gillian seemed to have gone into a trance, much like I must have for a few moments. His eyes were glazed over, and his mouth was moving slowly, though no words came out. I blinked a few times, watching Gillian stand still as a statue. Whatever was happening on his side must be throwing him for a loop. Was my personality that powerful? And if it was, was that a good thing?

“Something's off.” I put my gloves back on. “There's a demon in there, but something isn't right.”

“What does that matter?” Jay asked quickly.

“I don't know, I'm not an expert.” I rubbed my eyes. “It's like they're fighting for control, but not in the normal way? I don't know how to describe it.”

“But there's a demon in there?” Jay asked.

“Yes...” I said slowly.

“Then get them out.” Jay folded her arms.

“What?” I asked.

“Get them out,” Jay said again.

“I thought you just wanted me for my senses?”

“Well, I don't want you for your attitude. Get that demon out, or I'm killing you in his place.”

“Okay, okay!” I said, mind racing. How was I supposed to drag a demon out of this weird possession?

I flicked my ears. I heard something. It was faint, far away. It grew louder, closer. It was... a ringing? It grew louder, louder louder, suddenly it was too loud, I couldn't hear anything other than this high pitched ringing. It was all around me, suddenly in my mind, bouncing through my skull so powerfully I dropped to the floor, covering my ears with my hands. My staff fell to the side as the scream grew even louder, turning violent, threatening to rip my head apart. I felt tears run down my face and blood from my ears.

I was briefly aware that there was someone next to me, Cam, maybe, before I managed to open my eyes. Gillian was still standing there, but his shadow was moving. It threw itself to and fro, trying to rip itself from the ground. It had to be the source of the noise. It was filled with so much pain and anger, I had to fight the urge to curl up and wait for death. I could feel magic and pain and anger rolling off the shadow in waves. I tried to say something, but I couldn't unlock my jaw.

I tried to push through the pain, slowly moving my hand away from my ears. When I let go, though, the sound seemed to grow even louder. I covered my ears quickly, and tried turning over. I felt my staff against the back of my head, and more blood covering my hands.

I tried to focus my attention on my staff, to keep some part of my body against it. I forced my eyes open, barely more than a squint, and stared at the shadow. Try as it might it couldn't tear itself free, but that didn't seem to matter. I tried to focus, reaching down inside myself for the stopper on my bottle of magic, but couldn't get a grip on it.

I let the ringing echo in my head, taking in all it could throw at me. All its pain, the anger, the pain in my head, my own anger at being forced to the ground, I took it all. This demon might be loud, but there was no way I was going to let it take me down with just a sound!

I gave up on controlling my spell, something deeper in me forcing itself against the stopper and pushing the magic out. I grabbed at whatever I could hold and threw it at the shadow.

More in my mind than from my mouth I heard myself hiss “Flare!” in Script, the language of demons, and the one I used to cast spells.

A bright light suddenly appeared in the head of Gillian's shadow. It would have been an injustice to call this light pure white, but it was the brightest thing I had ever seen. The ringing vanished, changing instead to a wail. The force behind it vanished, and it wasn't attacking me, now it was screaming in fear and defense, maybe out of shock. Clearly the demon hadn't expected me to fight back. Truth be told, neither did I.

Both the light and the wail disappeared suddenly. I dropped my hands and tried to stand, suddenly exhausted, my magic echoing a deeper, more pleasant ringing in my head and behind my eyes. I wanted to sleep. I didn't want a bed, or food, or anything else to go with it, I just wanted to sleep.

But something in the back of my mind was telling me I couldn't sleep. Some inner version of me was calmly sitting in a comfortable chair and telling me that I had more work to do. The nerve...

I reached up to touch my ears. I felt my fingers touch my ears, but didn't get the natural response. They didn't move on instinct, and I didn't hear the sound they should have made, either. All I could hear was two different notes ringing in my mind. My brain didn't like that, it wanted to hear something else. But what was it supposed to hear? Had gone deaf at some point during the attack?

My heart started racing, and my breathing sped up. I could feel terror building, but somehow felt removed from it. That part of me sitting in a comfy chair was screaming at me, telling me that if we just kept breathing we would hear it. Faster, louder, faster, louder, faster, louder...

A hand touched my shoulder and I jerked in response, probably letting out a short scream myself. My breathing was fast, I felt like I had just run a marathon, I suddenly couldn't get enough air in my lungs. My eyes darted side to side as another hand grabbed my other shoulder.

The hands on my shoulders pulled at me, turning me, until I was in a sitting position, then cupped my face. Cam was staring at me, confusion in her eyes. Her mouth was moving, she was saying something, but I couldn't make out a single word. I tried to read her lips, tried to find some meaning, but my mind was racing, I couldn't keep track.

She placed a hand above my right eye, closer to my ear. I followed her hand carefully with my eyes, watching closely. She snapped, I saw her arm move. I didn't blink, my ears didn't twitch, I couldn't hear it. It should have been loud, I should have reacted. But there was nothing.

Cam looked me in the eyes and moved her mouth, very slowly, exaggerating each syllable. Can... you... hear... me?

No. I said. I moved my mouth, I felt my chest rumble with my voice, and felt air leave my lungs, but I didn't hear anything. I knew I made the sound, though, I could still speak. I tried to focus on that, I wasn't entirely broken. There was still a way out of this.

Lock and key, I told myself. Lock and key, lock and key. I took a deep breath and let it out slowly, picturing a flood of colors being locked up in a small wooden box. With another breath I was in control, and my emotions were locked away again.

There was a small popping sound in my head, I gasped, and the world had sound again, the deep echo from magic spreading into my ears. Whatever that magic had been must have done more to my head mentally than physically. Once I got myself under control, I was fine.

“Staff.” I gasped, eyes darting between Cam and my staff.

She reached down and grabbed it, handing it to me. I grabbed it, and quickly reached into myself, uncorking the bottle of clear magic. The next step of getting myself under control was to get logical quickly. Ice would do the trick.

With a little effort and a tighter grip on my staff I used a little ice based magic. The temperature of the air around me rose, and when I exhaled my breath came out as a cold mist. Now I was cool and collected.

“Can you hear me?” Cam asked, sounding just a little faded.

“Yes,” I sighed, my voice calm, “what did they do?”

“Broke you a little.” Cam shrugged. “Figured if you fell to the ground and grasped at your ears they probably broke somehow. I don't know what did it, but you seem to be fine for now.

“Yes,” I replied, sitting up, “for now.”

“That's nice and all,” Jay said, “but we have a demon to take out.”

“Yes,” I said slowly, “the demon.”

Gillian was still standing, lifelessly, in the middle of the room. His shadow had gone back to moving, throwing itself any way it could, but to no avail, it was stuck. Without waiting for me, Jay pounced, plunging her dagger into the carpet where Gillian's shadow was, right in the chest.

The shadow froze. Jay didn't move. I held my breath.

Cam's hands quickly shot up to cover her ears, the ringing had returned. Jay gritted her teeth and glared at the shadow, one hand on her ear, her other shoulder raising to block her other ear. She twisted her dagger and removed it, plunging it back into the carpet over and over again. She didn't look intimidating, and the scream wasn't letting up.

Would human ears hold out as long as mine? If they were anything like me then Jay and Cam would lose their hearing in a few seconds, or the moment this demon decided to raise the volume. What could we do to stop it? Jay had already stabbed the shadow in the chest with a Sky-forged dagger. Any demon would be dead or dying, nobody would survive that.

But she hadn't stabbed the demon.

That was Gillian's shadow. And the shadow wasn't a demon, that was just where they seemed to be staying while possessing a human. Stabbing a shadow doesn't do anything. It might look impressive to drive a dagger into the floor on a moving shadow, but there was no harm to the demon.

I tightened my grip on my staff and stumbled forward. Gillian wasn't more than a few feet away, but each step felt like miles. I knew that I wasn't physically tired, but more emotionally and magically tired. Magic wasn't normally so tiring, but my emotions has slipped in, and they were a muscle I didn't use. Luckily for me, the distance to Gillian was actually quite small and took little time to traverse.

I traded my staff to my left hand and fell next to Jay. I focused my will and reached down for magic, but found a wall of exhaustion waiting for me. I pushed through it, that flare had really taken a lot out of me, but I wouldn't let that stop me here. I had a job to do, this was one fourth of the way to half my freedom, and I wouldn't let anybody, even another demon, stand in my way.

I reached into the other bottle of magic, the darker one. This one was smaller, and meant for special occasions, or for just adding a little flair to my normal spells. This was my demon magic, the kind that would let me possess a human, or control a shadow. Scarlet had said we all had the skill, but this wasn't entirely new, just a little variation.

I covered my right arm with this darker magic and scooped up my shadow with it. Surprisingly, it left the ground and wrapped itself around my arm, a tingling that I could only describe as pleasant but generic stimulation filling my arm wherever my shadow touched it. I thrust my arm as far down into Gillian's shadow as I could, all the way up to my shoulder. It felt like sticking my arm into icy cold water mixed with something sticky like honey, but I kept going. I felt my hand brush against something, and grabbed. I started to pull. It resisted me, and it was heavy, and there was this ringing in the back of my mind demanding that I stop.

But I wasn't going to listen to it. I didn't want to be in this situation, but I knew the facts, and I knew that if I didn't help out the LeMonte next to me it was my head on the chopping block. If pulling out this heavy demon would keep me alive a little longer than I would pull them out.

My elbow rose out of the shadow. I stood up as much as I could and continued pulling, eventually getting my wrist out. Just a little more, my hand was out. And gripped tight in my hand was the goat-like horn of a demon.

Jay moved quickly, her own hand reaching out and grabbing the other horn, and together we pulled. Jay switched positions, grabbed the horn with both hands, and with a roar threw the demon out of the shadow.

Gillian was dead before he hit the ground.

I dropped my arms, utterly exhausted, and fell to the ground. But that part of me sitting in his chair was talking again, telling me I had to stay awake. What did he know that I didn't?

But I listened, I kept my eyes open and managed to lift my head up. Jay was standing over the demon, who had begun laughing.

Jay had put her knee on the demon's chest and had her Sky-forged dagger against his throat. She indicated Gillian. “What did you do to him?”

“Botched it!” The demon cackled. “Couldn't keep control, fat bastard was too stubborn.”

“He's dead,” I said flatly, watching Gillian from where I was lying. Unless humans didn't move at all when they breathed, this one was gone.

Jay quickly moved her dagger, slicing open the demon's left arm. He screamed, hot steam and blood began to pour from the open wound. Was I okay with this? Was I okay with letting Jay torture another demon just so it didn't happen to me? Should I stop her? Could I? Did I really want to?

The calm and calculating part of me said no to all of those questions. I wasn't okay with this, but I shouldn't, nor could I, stop her. I didn't want to, either. I feared Jay's wrath as any smart demon would. She was a LeMonte with a Sky-forged weapon, and I was an easy target.

“Who do you work for?” Jay demanded, lifting the demons head and slamming it back onto the ground. “Tell me and I'll end your sorry life.”

“Ha!” The demon shouted. “Ask your pet! He's just the same.”

“So be it.” Jay whispered, her knife glinting as she quickly slid it across the demon's throat.

Jay stood as blood began to pour from the demon's throat. The light faded from his eyes and his head sagged, the blood from his neck quickly forming a pool and staining the carpet.

I had been expecting some kind of peace, or maybe anger, even resignation. Instead I felt nothing. I should have felt something, right? There should have been emotions.

Again, the collected and magic filled part of my mind told me no. I was a Tolrand, and I kept all my emotions locked up in a box since I couldn't get rid of them. I wasn't supposed to feel anything, and I was doing a very good job of that right now.

Instead of nothing, I felt a lot of magic moving through the air, focused on the body of the now dead demon. He hadn't been dead even a couple seconds, but he already looked like he was giving us more trouble.

All the magic that had been swirling in the air shoved itself into the body of the demon, which suddenly began to writhe violently. Limbs flew in every direction, blood splattered and flowed back into the demon's body, and the most disgusting gurgling sound I had ever heard came from the body. Jay noticed immediately and looked back to the demon.

The body began to contort and shrink. The limbs changed proportion, and I heard bones snapping as they changed shape to match. Instead of a demon on the ground I saw what looked like a large, lean dog with more gray muscle than any living creature should ever have, and less hair than should be possible. Its head had gleaming red eyes, filled with hatred, and several rows of sharp, pointed teeth. It began growling at us.

“Hellhound!” I called out, instantly jumping to my feet and backing away, exhaustion replaced with adrenaline.

What did I know about hellhounds? Well, off the top of my head I knew that the best way to deal with them was to run. Every part of me, little me in his comfy chair included, was screaming this at me. I knew they were some of the meanest creatures out there, and that they loved blood, all kinds. The only way I had ever heard of a person taking one out was by completely freezing it, and even then it had only been temporary, it thawed out a few hours later.

But why was there even a hellhound here in the first place? Why would a demon turn into a hellhound? This didn't make any sense, and I had no idea how to deal with this. A single Sky-forged dagger was our best bet, but I doubted it could break through the hellhound's hide. They had a reputation for taking down the most powerful demons and angels with stunning speed.

To my surprise though, the hellhound turned, faced towards the open window on the edge of the room, and broke into a sprint. Now, I had been planning a similar course of action, so seeing this hellhound run was a little confusing. But, I knew that no matter what happened, I could not allow this hellhound to leave. Unfortunately, I couldn't do anything to stop it.

A hellhound was fast, faster than I could be in any situation. As the hellhound jumped to towards the window, it suddenly closed, and the hellhound ran face first into what must have been some extraordinarily reinforced glass. At the same time, papers around the room suddenly lifted off the ground and flew across the room.

Cam was suddenly next to me, hair flying wildly and then settling back down. Some of it was no longer curled, and the spider wasn't holding any of it anymore. She turned, winked at me, and shut the door to the room. Whatever had happened, I was now trapped in a room with a LeMonte and a hellhound. Maybe these problems would sort themselves out...

“How do we kill it?” Jay asked, hand on her dagger as she inched towards me and Cam.

“I don't know,” I admitted.

“Then we play out this game the fun way.” Cam smiled, walking up next to Jay.

“Fun?” I asked. Game?

“Fast as we can?” Jay asked.

“Fast as we can,” Cam affirmed, her spider jumping off her back and crawling towards me.

Under any other circumstances I might have been worried, but not right now. I had a hellhound to worry about, I could handle Cam's clockwerk spider jumping up and holding onto my shoulder. It was actually a lot lighter than I had expected.

Other than the one strand of hair from earlier, the rest of Cam's hair was curly. Cam casually pushed some of her hair out of her face, the strands straightening themselves quickly, her arm suddenly covered in bright sparks. At the same time Jay put away her dagger and put the hood of her cloak up, reaching for the hilt of the sword I had yet to see her draw, her cloak slowly filling with stars.

“Go!” They both shouted in unison.

Cam extended her right arm, placing her elbow in her left hand, and pointed a finger gun at the hellhound. A large bolt of electricity shot from her fingertips, hitting the hellhound directly, the recoil of the move sending Cam sliding backwards and to the carpeted ground. Jay moved, quicker than I had ever seen a human move, straight for the hell hound, hand on the hilt of her still sheathed sword, ready to strike.

But the hellhound was faster, ducking to the side and letting out a ferocious roar. It spun on its heels and launched itself at Cam, probably expecting her to be the easier target, but Cam was ready. Grabbing a set of curls with her left hand she threw her hair in the opposite direction, suddenly covered entirely in sparks, and appeared next to Jay, papers on the desk launching into the air, looking a little ragged and confused.

In all my years on this plane and others, I had never seen someone use their hair as a talisman. But here was Cam, a human girl of sixteen years who was expertly casting spells on her enemies and herself without a problem, all while channeling it through her hair. Was she limited to how much hair she had curled? Or did she have a reservoir like me?

The hellhound roared again, then turned towards me. If it was thinking I was the easy target, then it was right, but just like Cam, I was prepared. Once I had seen Jay bolt towards the hellhound I had already moved. I was hidden beneath a veil, and I left a copy of myself against the wall, which mimicked my movements once I had reached a new spot.

Without a moments hesitation the hellhound launched itself towards my illusion. With a flick of my wrist the illusion vanished, and the hellhound ran straight into the wall, slamming its head against the hard wood.

“Not very smart, is it?” I asked, turning to Jay and Cam, grabbing my veil and pulling down on it to reveal my head, which was swimming with magic now.

“Nice one!” Cam gave me a thumbs up with one hand, twirling her hair with the other.

At least someone appreciates me.

“Cam?” Jay asked. “First strike?”

“Here I go.” Cam replied, bouncing slightly.

Once again covered in sparks Cam pulled back her right arm and vanished, appearing instantly on one side of the hellhound. She swung her fist at it, a direct hit, but bounced back, gasping and clutching her hand, now open.

“That's hard!” Cam shouted, bouncing from one foot to the other, slowly moving away from the hellhound.

“Switch!” Jay shouted, dashing towards the hellhound, which had stood back up.

Cam took a step back, but the hellhound jumped at the opportunity. With a roar and a leap it had closed the distance between us faster than I could have expected. I had no spell ready, and suddenly had the jaws of a hellhound biting down on my leg.

I don't normally make sounds when I react to pain, and I didn't here, but stars above did I feel it. I sucked in air between my now clenched teeth, holding my staff with both hands and swinging it at the hellhound trying to rip my leg off as my veil fell to pieces.

Jay was suddenly in front of me. The air in the room seemed to freeze as Jay pulled on her sword, and a bright blue light filled the room. In a single instant the sword had swung, moving through the hellhound as easily as it moved through the air. The next instant Jay was on the other side of me, crouched down, sword back in the scabbard, Jay's hand gripping the hilt tightly.

I gasped as the pressure on my leg vanished. The hellhound, head removed from its body, fell in a lump to the ground, twitching once before going still. The head fell on top of it a moment later, anger faded from the eyes. I was left with a set of now bleeding bite marks on my leg.

All the pain and blood loss and exhaustion and quick use of different types of magic caught up to me right then and there. That little me sitting in his comfy chair told me it was time to sleep, and there wasn't a single thing I could do about it.


	14. Chapter 14

I woke up slowly and painfully. My body ached, and not in the normal way. Slowly, I sat up, looking around. I was back at the inn, lying on my bed. There was some light coming in through the closed window, peaking through the curtains. I felt exhausted, sleep hadn't done a dammed thing, and I had a headache. Probably from improper use of magic.

It looked like a new day. Day two, a quarter way to half my freedom. I would say that was good progress, in a few more days I could be halfway free, but I doubted that things would get any easier. I had skills at my disposal I couldn't afford to use, and our group 'leader' had put me in a dangerous position. I had already gotten injured on the first mark.

The door to the room opened, Cam and Jay walking in. Jay looked like she had a long night, Cam looked like she had slept well. Lucky bastard.

“How's the hearing?” Cam asked, pointing to her ears.

“Fine.” I said shortly, reaching up and feeling bandages on my head. “Now if only my leg was better.” There was a dull ache coming from my right leg, several spots on it actually. I could count the number of teeth the hellhound had from the pain.

“Not a lot we can do there.” Cam shrugged, sitting down on my bed and removing the bandages on my head. “Just gonna have to wait.”

“Where did you learn your tricks with magic?” I asked. I didn't want conversation to be about me for too long.

“Seline taught me.”

“Seline?”

“My older sister.” Jay sat, sitting on her bed and crossing her arms. “She's the most powerful sorcerer I know, and the most skilled fighter, too.”

Of course the strongest sorcerer and fighter were the same person, and a LeMonte. My life just got better and better. Still, it was a useful trick, using your hair as a talisman, maybe I could use it later.

“I'll stick with glamours and veils,” I sighed.

“Speaking of glamours and veils. That was a nice trick you pulled last night,” Cam said.

“Getting the hellhound to run into the wall?” I asked. “Foresight.”

“Clearly you didn't have enough.” Jay nodded towards my leg, which also had bandages on it. I left those on.

“I've never fought a hellhound before,” I shrugged, “I can't predict everything.”

“Where did you go last night?” Jay asked.

“Bar that accepts demons, like Cam suggested,” I answered, “played some cards, then left.” No need to mention Scarlet, and by giving Jay a little more info then she asked for I was more likely to not have to give more than I needed to.

“How does your demon detector thing work?” Cam asked. “You and Gillian blanked out there for a minute.”

“Different for everyone.” I waved my hand vaguely. “I get a picture that gives me their specialty. Didn't get anything like that out of this one, though. Something about a botched possession, I guess.”

“Can you mess up a possession?” Jay asked. “I thought they were all or nothing.”

“Unless you're fighting for control, they are,” I rubbed the bridge of my nose, “I don't know how this one messed up. How about the ringing? It hit you two after me, right?” I just wanted to change the subject. The less I reveal about demons the better.

“Yeah,” Cam replied quietly.

“Seemed to hit you hardest,” Jay stated, “Cam came over when you fell, but you cast some kind of spell and then seemed okay for a bit.”

I nodded. “Just a distraction. Worked long enough to get my ears back in order.”

Jay nodded back. “Whatever it was, it worked. For you, at least. Hit us a few seconds later.”

“It hit us all.” Cam corrected.

Jay rolled her eyes. “I aimed for the shadow because you put that light there. Couldn't hit the demon, though. What did you do?”

I wasn't entirely sure about that myself. I had never attempted a spell like that before, I had never needed to rip a demon out of a shadow. Maybe it was because the demon wanted to get out of the shadow that I was able to? Or maybe I just had a knack for shadow based magic? I worked with light a lot so maybe darkness was naturally similar?

“Specialty,” I said, unable to think of a better word, “I wrapped my arm in my shadow and went in, there was no real spell behind it.”

“New spell?” Cam offered.

“I don't think so.” I shook my head. “Magic is a little too formless to really make anything new out of it. Just a creative... uh, creative use, I guess.”

“But the demon went down in the end,” Jay shrugged, “They all do, and that's what matters.”

I shivered. Hopefully I could avoid going down until I was a safe distance from Jay. The other side of this plane might be far enough.

“That demon said you were just like another demon.” Jay continued. “What does that mean?”

“I don't know.” I shrugged.

Jay glared at me, but accepted my answer. Honestly, I had no clue what being that demon had meant. As far as I knew I was unique. Besides, I was a little more concerned with being bound.

“And then there was the hellhound. Know anything about that?”

“Not much more than you.” I shrugged again. “I don't know why one was there, or why the demon turned into one. There was a lot of magic moving around when you killed the demon, though. Probably had a spell prepared in advance.”

“We'll be ready if it happens again.” Cam said.

Jay nodded. “We've got two days and three targets left. Let's get to work.”


	15. Chapter 15

I would have liked to take most of the day to relax or rest. Of course, resting for me usually involved pacing around a war room, papers and notes covering the walls, and coming up with a plan for a client. Today, however, consisted of me nervously pacing around our room in the inn, no papers on the walls, and pretending to come up with a plan that would not only earn me absolutely no money, but would end up getting another demon killed.

Jay eventually got tired of me pacing and told me to sit down. I had to, it was a direct command, but that didn't mean I wasn't nervous anymore. I still had that restless energy I get whenever I try to think of a plan. I found myself leaning forward, chin resting in my hands, while the foot on my good leg tapped repeatedly. Sure, I was tired from using magic and all that fear, but that felt more like physical exhaustion to me, and my headache had vanished with some breathing exercises. Mentally I was still running faster than those new trains everybody likes to pretend they're rich enough to ride on.

“Hey!” Jay called sternly to me, glaring at me, then my tapping foot. She was reading papers on Cam's bed.

“Sorry.” I mumbled, not at all sorry, working over a new rune in my head. I was procrastinating reading the papers with them, creating a new rune wouldn't help me, I had plenty on my staff and already knew what I needed to add.

“If you're going to be a nuisance then at least be useful.” Jay said suddenly, standing in front of me.

“Ah...” I said slowly, not sure where she was going.

“Teach me something about magic,” Jay said flatly.

“If you can't physically do something don't try it with magic,” I gave.

“More,” She demanded.

“If you don't have a clear goal in mind you won't be able to focus your magic well.”

“More,”

“What do you want?” I asked.

“Something useful.”

“Everything's useful.”

“These are basics. I want something more.”

“I can't tell you how many times that phrase results in the person dying.” I sighed. “Basics save your life. I have a routine, a basic routine, I use when casting spells.”

“How do you cast spells?” Jay asked.

“Talisman, focus, grab, goal, shape, reality.” I said quickly.

“What does that mean?”

“Exactly what it sounds like. What's your talisman?”

Jay hesitated, glaring at me.

“You asked for my help!” I defended. I wasn't trying to trick her or anything.

“My cloak,” Jay said, lifting one side with her arm.

“Okay, and your specialty?”

“Speeding myself up with magic.”

“So you grab your talisman, focus your will, grab your magic, have a clear goal, shape it, and make it real,” I said, looking back down and going back to thinking.

“And how exactly do I focus my will?” Jay asked.

“I don't know.” I sighed. “It's different for everyone.”

“How do you do it?”

“I just focus,” I said, getting annoyed, “I take a deep breath and calm my mind. Then I'm focused. I've been doing magic for one hundred years it's instinct now.”

“Cam!” Jay called out, not moving. “How do you focus when casting spells?”

“I twirl my hair.” Cam said, currently twirling her hair, all of which was curly. “It's really relaxing, so it calms me down.”

“Dammit.” Jay swore. “Help me with this.”

Jay reached for her belt and grabbed a normal dagger. She held it up to me.

“What?” I asked, no longer in the mood for her games.

“It didn't work,” Jay declared.

“You pulled a knife,” I said, working to not roll my eyes, “what didn't work?”

“It didn't align.”

“Of course it didn't align that doesn't make sense.”

“But Amanda can do that with her magic.”

“Do what? Who's Amanda?”

“My sister,” Jay answered, “kind of. She's marrying my older brother, so she'll be a LeMonte soon enough. Why can't I copy her magic?”

“Her magic aligns knives?” Scary.

“Anything.” Jay corrected. “Whatever she has on her belt she can align. She just walks around with a ton of weapons on her belt and then can just pull and align them. You know, Sky-forged and Hell-forged, whatever and whenever she wants.”

Now that was a terrifying power. Align any weapon you could have on your belt? Cost effective and completely adaptable. I could only hope I never ran into this woman, LeMonte aside. There were some terrifying humans in this world, and Amanda sounded like one of them.

Jay glared at me, then stormed out of the room, stomping loudly. I waited a few seconds, long enough so that Jay would be at least on the first floor. I didn't even have to say anything this time, that's a new record.

“What's her problem?” I asked Cam.

“Her family is very magically talented.” Cam said, looking over a few papers from her bags. “And she's the youngest. Well, she has her younger brother, but he's really talented. Jay just has a lot to live up to. Seline did some crazy things overseas, really spread her name around. At least, that's what I've heard. Can you imagine trying to live up to that?”

“No.” I said flatly. “I have nobody to live up to. What kind of papers do you have there?”

“Information on our next guy.”

I stood up and walked over to Cam's bed, looking at some of the papers she had. I didn't see a picture of anyone, but there were a few papers with information written. I picked up one of the pages and began to read. It was a schedule. Come to think of it, I should have read these instead of just pacing.

“What's this one?” I asked.

“Samuel's schedule,” Cam said, “he follows it pretty reliably.”

“Is he our next mark? How did you get his schedule?”

“He has an assistant who handles a lot of his paperwork,” Cam said, looking at the schedule in my hand, “a while ago she left this at one of the meetings.”

“So you took it?”

Cam shrugged. “I was gonna give it back, but I never had time.”

“Your spider?”

“Very time consuming,” Cam nodded, but her expression told me she wasn't being fully serious.

I looked over the schedule again. This would be useful, but something was still nagging me.

“What is so important that demons would want to get into your business?” I asked.

“The business itself, probably,” Cam answered casually, looking at more papers.

“But they're stopping you from pushing your spider. That doesn't exactly hurt anyone, but it doesn't help anyone either. What's the point in stalling?”

“Maybe the votes, then,” Cam started, “if four of the seven members of the board all vote one way, that's how the decision goes. Four people on the same page all the time could essentially run the business. We're the only real forgery trade this side of world, and this town gets a lot of business. Running that might be a big deal to somebody.”

So it was a power play. Some demon, or demons, want control of the weapons department of humanity. If I had to guess why I would say to push the development of Hell-forged weapons while leaving Sky-forged to rot. Demons would be able to take on angels, who in turn wouldn't be able to pit humans against us anymore. If one side got to aligned guns before the other...

I wasn't against the idea. Demons and angels have been at war for longer than I could guess, and if we managed to get a lead and push it, we might be able to end the war in victory. I had no personal stake in this war, but I was rooting for the home team. Stopping a plan that might give us an advantage was traitorous.

But this wasn't just pouring all resources into a way to win. This was taking advantage of humanity, a sentient species, to protect ourselves. If we worked with them, that would be one thing, but this wasn't like that. I wasn't on board with this.

If we had our own idea and worked from there, then I'm all for it. Humans aren't a part of our war, they're just in the middle in terms of planes. They didn't start it, they weren't a part of it, and they didn't want to be, they were just bystanders who happened to make good weapons. Maybe they were involved, but they weren't rooting for any one side over the other, they were balanced, supposedly. Fringe benefits from the forgery trade was fine, but highjacking the system was not. I refused to be a part of it.

“I don't like their method.” I announced. “We should stop these demons.”

Truth be told I wasn't getting invested for some kind of moral reason. I didn't have any kind of high ground here, technically me getting involved was me being a traitor to the cause. Simply put, I just didn't like the way the situation was being handled. I guess I was personally invested, but that didn't make me any better than our opposition.

If I had the option I wouldn't be working with Jay or Cam. I mentally ran through a list of all the humans and demons I had worked with before or had heard of in the business. If I had my way I would have a crew of five, four at the least, all of whom were professional and had no problem taking out demons. Instead, I had an assassin who hated me, and a rich girl who had a lot of power and brains, but didn't seem to be very helpful outside of information. That was not what I needed to end this cleanly, but it would have to do.

“So how do we do that?” Cam asked.

“Let Jay do all the heavy hitting.” I said. “I'm not a fighter. Same goal, take out demons, save the humans, since Jay felt... strong about that. We need a plan, though.”

We couldn't do a con, Scarlet had said that wouldn't work. These demons were smart and would see that coming, so we needed something different. Something quick and unexpected, nothing complex enough to involve more than a few steps. A regular interaction gone wrong, maybe. Jay didn't care about being clean, and with her time frame I couldn't blame her.

Our next mark was an architect, Samuel. Supposedly a good guy, getting old, has an assistant and a constant schedule. Unfortunate that he might be a demon in disguise, but there wasn't anything to do about it now. What could we do that would work on him?

“I have an idea,” I said, “but I need Jay to... work with me.”

“Jay doesn't like taking orders,” Cam said, looking up from her papers.

Of course, that would be hard to get around. She would have to for this plan. She might not like it, but it should work.

“What are you going to have her do? Cam asked

“We're going to have Jay walk up to Samuel. But she's not going to ask if he's a demon,” I said, grinning.

Cam looked like she was ready to say something, but the door to the room suddenly opened, and Jay walked in.

“Teach me how to make a veil,” Jay said quickly.

This should be fun.


	16. Chapter 16

“This didn't work.” I said, frowning.

Cam and I were currently sitting on a wooden box in an alley. To be precise, the alley was about a minute walk away from Samuel's house. Currently, Jay was somewhere insides Samuel's house. He would have an office or lounge inside, as most every businessman in this day and age did, and he would invite Jay in when she mentioned she wanted to talk business. She would tell him that she was with the LeMonte family, not a lie, and that they wanted a house in the area. That last part was a lie, but Jay had suggested it, so it should work.

She would then show Samuel the mark on one of her knives, which was a dagger with an angel wing and a demon horn. As much as I disapproved of a horn representing all demons I had to admit it was a common enough trait to work. Once Jay had made a deal she would promise payment once the plans had been made, and she would leave. She would walk in the other direction from Samuel's house, away from me and Cam, and wait. At the same time, Cam would leave the alley and pretend to wait for someone nearby.

Or Jay would just decide it wasn't worth all the trouble and kill Samuel with a Sky-forged blade. Or she would attack him, get the demon out, and kill them. Honestly, I didn't know what Jay would do. She had taken my plan, which put her in the front, decided she hated it, and then gave me basically the same plan but with less acting involved for her and more for me. In the end, though, this was her show, and she would do what she wanted.

Samuel should leave his house sometime after Jay, worried about a LeMonte being in town, and probably run to tell his leader. If he saw Jay, who would be very close, he would turn in the other direction and walk away, no demon wants to be near a LeMonte. But then he would see Cam, recognize her and, demon or no, not want to confront her. He would then duck down the nearest alley, where I was waiting.

Once he entered the alley Jay and Cam would race towards me. I would do... something... to spook Samuel and make physical contact. If he was a demon I would let Jay know and she takes him out. If not, then Jay rounds the corner and I walk away. I wouldn't have to fake annoyance over seeing her, that would be very real.

It was a pretty big gamble, but I couldn't convince Jay to do anything else. I tried, I even suggested possession to do this all in one go, but she wouldn't listen, even when I told her she would have full control. Still, Jay and Cam were nearby, and if anything went wrong I had two very fast and supposedly very dangerous sorcerers to back me up.

Of course, I had told her that I didn't want to do more acting. I had said that this was her show and that I wanted to be involved as little as possible, but she had of course told me that I had to do most of the work. So I had to follow along and improvise.

There were a lot of other gambles before the plan even got to me, though. Samuel leaving his house in a reasonable time, the demon being scared of Jay, the human not wanting to confront Cam, thinking to dodge into an alley. Of course, no plan was perfect, and if it didn't work it would always be possible to tail him until he was alone and then make a move, maybe force him into an alley. The main hurdle would be the demon hiding with Samuel wanting to tell the rest of his group that there was a LeMonte in town.

“Why not?” Cam asked.

“This is a simple act and it's taking too long,” I sighed, “Jay must not have the practice, and you need a lot of practice. And a lot of messing up, knowing exactly how you went wrong, and not making that mistake ever again.” If I wanted Jay and Cam to go along with my plans, or Jay's version of my plans, then I would need to be honest with them. I hadn't lied to them yet, but I didn't want them to think I was going to betray them during the middle of a con. After all, I had a lot more to gain by betraying them than I did by helping them. They had no idea I couldn't betray Jay, even if I wanted to, and there was no way I was going to explain why.

“You practice doing crazy stuff like this?” Cam indicated the box and our position.

“More often than you would think,” I replied.

“That your years of wisdom speaking?”

“No.” I laughed. “That's my years of pretending to be the smartest man in the room, and somehow managing to convince everyone I was.”

“Are you usually the smartest man in the room?”

“If I thought that I would have died a long time ago.” I said. “There's always someone better. I've met humans and demons faster than me, stronger than me, smarter than me, sometimes all at once.” Stars above, Scarlet seemed to be better at being me than I was. Her confidence and the way she carefully held knowledge was incredible.

“Do you do this for fun?”

“Money.”

“Ah.”

“Spend long enough trying to convince everyone you're really smart and eventually someone believes it. And who doesn't want someone smart leading their team?”

“So you do this...” Cam gestured at us sitting on the box, “this crazy stuff. You do this all the time?”

“I don't normally work with a LeMonte to take out demons hiding in the forgery business, no. And I don't normally take out demons, something about killing kin doesn't sit right with me. But I work on a... close level.”

If I hadn't tried to drop off the map a few years back I might have been the one leading this team of demons. There might have been more people, maybe a different plan, there was no way to know. Or I might have died during some other plan I did during the past few years, but again, there was no way to know.

And I wouldn't tell Cam any of this. Yeah, I was a smart guy who tricked humans for money. In the broadest sense of the word, I was a conman. Thought I prefer the term con-artist, as I tell clients. There's a certain finesse that goes into a plan like this, a delicate touch to make everything seem more like a gentle nudge instead of a push. But I was finding it hard to nudge anyone when Jay was several feet away with a Sky-forged sword.

“How about you?” I asked, nodding towards Cam's spider, which was on her back. “You have experience with my field, or more in yours?”

“Not this, that's for sure.” Cam rolled her eyes. “I live an honest life. I study all day, and work in my free time, and if I ever get the chance, I do some combat training with Jay.”

“You practice fighting with Jay?” I had a hard time believing that.

“I just work on defense,” Cam sighed, “I can speed myself up to block a lot of attacks, but not fast enough to actually get one in, Jay's just too fast. All hand-to-hand, of course.”

“Of course...” I laughed, trying to imagine what it was like to move as fast as Cam could. Must be nice. Or maybe it was stressful. A lot of magic was. “Sounds like an exciting life.”

“For the most part.” Cam shrugged. “It's more safe than exciting. I just want to work on the whole angel and demon killing thing all day instead of part time.”

“I think I need to find a different box to sit on.” I shifted uncomfortably, but it was fake.

“Not like that.” Cam rolled her eyes, laughing. “It's nothing personal. You're the first I've had the opportunity to sit down and talk with, but you seem like a nice guy. For a demon.”

For a demon. Of course.

“I just loved working on my spider,” Cam didn't catch her backhanded compliment, “I want to push that ideas as far as it can go before I move on to something else. It doesn't have to kill demons or angels, I just want to make a change, you know?”

I sighed. “I'm not interested in the killing demons part, but I understand wanting to make a change. It's a big goal.”

“Yeah.” Cam leaned back. “But it makes me happy to do something like this, and my dad seems to enjoy me putting more effort into the family business. That it matters even a little bit to someone else is what's really important, right?”

Now that was a comment I hadn't been expecting. Nearly every human I ran into cared about two things; themselves in the moment, and their self in the future. If it didn't matter to them then it didn't matter, end of story. But here was one human who was concerned with a little more than the day to day. Cam seemed to care more about her father and the future of the forgery trade than her momentary happiness.

“I guess so, yes,” I replied.

“Jay seems happy, though,” Cam said, “but she's had her whole life dedicated to this one thing she's really good at.”

A whole life dedicated to one thing you're really good at, huh? It sounded nice in concept, but I was living it and not loving it. Thanks to my mother being convinced of my skills in holding a glamour and persona, she believed I had to be a con-artist. Maybe I was meant to be one, and I certainly wasn't awful at it, but I didn't get the same kind of joy out of it that Jay got by fighting demons. Then again, I'm not sure I would want the same kind of joy she had.

If both Jay and I had our lives dedicated to one thing we were really good at, why was Jay having so much more fun? Was it because she was human? Maybe it was because she wasn't bound to someone who could kill her without a second thought. That would certainly make things a little more stressful.

“Here he comes,” Cam said, tapping my shoulder and walking out of the alley.

I glanced out of the alley, looking towards Samuel's house. Sure enough, the door was open, and Jay was standing near the corner of the house away from me, inspecting the scabbard of her sword. Samuel turned and locked his door, saw Jay, and began walking in the opposite direction.

Samuel looked about as I had been expecting. Gray hair, skin that was starting to look a little wrinkly, and nice clothes. Tailored, of course, and pressed, something rich humans often spent their money on.

I grabbed my staff, trying to ignore my bloody fingerprints from last night, and pulled up a veil. When Samuel passed by the alley he froze, probably seeing Cam. I saw him hesitate, then turn towards the alley I was in, moving quickly.

I waited until he was next to me before I acted, sticking my staff out, catching his leg, and throwing his weight out from under him. I moved behind him, squatted down, and balanced my staff on my shoulders. When Samuel got back up I whistled at him and made eye contact.

Before he could really move I stood up and hoisted him up by his arm, making sure my hand grabbed his arm and not his clothes.

My vision faded, replaced by black. This time I had a solid image, but very detailed. I was standing on top of a large set of stone stairs. In front of me, stretching as far as I could see in any direction, was a large stone maze. It had hundreds of branching paths. The stairs in front of me were thin, more like a large slope than an actual stairway, if I were to move forward even an inch I would slide down the path and get stuck in the maze. I would probably die in a maze like that before I managed to find my way out.

When my vision returned I continued pulling at Samuel, but made a face that was a mix between confusion and surprise.

“Sorry 'bout that.” I said, choosing an accent at random and dropping my veil, switching my language to Script. “Didn't know you were 'osting.”

No possession this time, just a demon in disguise. I don't know who made this glamour, but it was very well made, and certainly not his. I knew this demon by reputation, Labyrinth was his nickname, and he had a very special skill of putting all his magic into a small pocket dimension that was a literal labyrinth. I had no idea how he did it, and under different circumstances I might have asked.

“No 'ard feelings?” I asked, now gently lifting him to his feet.

Labyrinth, I wonder if his friends called him Lab, sighed, and accepted my help.

“I'll be on my way, then. No need to bother you any more.” I moved to put my veil back up, but was stopped by Lab.

“Where did you get that wound, brother?” Lab asked, looking to my leg. If I had a limp I hadn't been covering it. He still had my hand in his.

“Ah,” I said, thinking quickly, “'uman boy tried the same trick on me. 'It me a little 'arder, though. Thought it was worth a try myself.”

“And the blood?” He was still holding my hand, his grip was tight.

“Not a lot of places to wash around here,” I quickly answered. Where were Jay and Cam?

Lab sighed. “If that's the best you can do you're really the weakest link, aren't you?”

Looks like Scarlet had been right, the demons would know a con when they saw one, even if it was something quick like this. I guess things had been a little too perfect, a LeMonte, a familiar face, and then a demon. In retrospect, it was obvious. Lab had seen right through me, and now I had to figure out a way to get Jay and Cam into this alley as quick as possible. Well, I have a staff for a reason.

I'm right handed, but my right hand was currently in Lab's. Luckily, you're allowed to switch hands in combat, and I was holding the end of my staff, not the center. I didn't have a lot of room to swing, but I gave it my best anyway, putting as much power behind my staff as I could.

“Your eyes gave it away,” Lab said calmly, sticking up his free hand and catching my staff, “I was really hoping for a professional, but are you really all there is?”

“'I guess so.” I shrugged, calling for my magic and making another large flair, this one directly in front of me. The space filled with bright light and my mind sang with hope.

I wrenched my staff out of Lab's hand and ran, managing to make it to the end of the alley.

“Jay!” I called out. “Cam!”

I hit the end of the alley and turned left, towards Jay, but stopped short. Just outside the alley color faded from the world, which shortened dramatically to be just a few paces. Everything else was a black void. I was in one of Lab's pocket dimensions.

I sighed, turning back around to Lab, who hadn't moved an inch. To be perfectly honest, he had won. My only goal had been to stall and find out one piece of info, and while I had that info, I had no way to get it to the humans who could actually rescue me.

Once again I had my two options, fight or flight. Flight hadn't done me any good lately, and wasn't even an option. Fight hadn't been any better last night, though that might have been more of flight than anything. I didn't have any other options, though, so I would have to fight.

So I took a few steps forward, I didn't want to find out what would happen if I fell into that void, and stood my ground. With a single breath I was focused, my emotions locked in a box, and started pulling together my magic. There wasn't a lot, so I would have to go with something other than combat magic.

“Nobody humiliates me and gets away with it,” Lab growled, walking towards me.

Given his reputation, I believed it.


	17. Chapter 17

I woke up in what was definitely not my bed at the inn. I knew for sure this wasn't my bed because my bed is not cold, nor is it made of stone. Similar to my bed, though, I woke up with a massive headache, and looked around. I was sitting in a large cell, all walls made of cold, gray stone. Near me was the real Samuel.

I didn't have to look closely to know that he was dead. No living creature is as eerily still as a dead body, and Samuel was that still. He was wearing a large brown jacket, boots, and a nice shirt. I imagined that he once had a very warm smile, but didn't look at his face. If he had felt anything like I should have felt right now I could only imagine how hopeless his expression was. Honestly, I couldn't blame him.

I leaned back against the closest wall, looking at the cage wall in front of me. Simple metal bars ran from floor to ceiling large enough for me to reach my arm through, but nothing else. There was a large door, though, taking up a few bars in width. And it was open. Either Lab left it open, or Samuel had somehow managed to open it. But if Samuel opened it, why would he return here?

As I stared at the door a strange calm came over me, like it normally did whenever I made a huge mistake. During this sudden calm a few thoughts made their way into my mind. I had messed up, first and foremost. I had known that we were up against demons who would know a con when they saw one, and I still went in with an act, doing a con. I knew that some members of this other team knew my name, and depending on who the demons were they might know about me.

To be fair, I thought to myself, most of the plan had gone off without a hitch. Jay had gotten Samuel to leave the house, and he had responded exactly as I thought he would, thought not exactly for the right reasons. Lab wanted to avoid Jay, but he also wanted to avoid Cam for some reason. Still, he made his way into my alley.

But that's where I messed up. I went for something bold and head on, definitely not my style. Once my veil is down I'm pretty much useless. I'm a slow and steady kind of guy, the kind who doesn't get caught, cause if they do there's no getting away.

Part of me had hoped Lab might be the same way. He was a very skilled demon, a master of mental magic I think. I doubted he could do a whole lot in a fight, maybe take down one person at a time, but when he focused he could take them down, just like he did with me. He was more perceptive than me, too. I gave away my plan with my eyes, I would have to work on that.

Now I was trapped in a pocket dimension of Lab's own creation, and I had no idea how to even begin getting out. Part of me was impressed, but the part of me that enjoys living was upset with my inability to think my way out of this situation.

When it really came down to it, thinking was my real strength. Probably my only strength. I had a good amount of magic I could use, but it didn't even matter in the end, I didn't have the strength for it. I thought I was safe under a veil, but I hadn't been thinking and I lifted it. My type of magic was meant to get anyone to think standing in my way was a bad idea, or to get them to willingly walk away. I was an illusionist, not someone who went into the field and did risky work.

Not to mention that I knew my part was risky. I knew that the other team knew of me, and if any of them knew me they knew what I was good at. I was being reckless and stupid, I wasn't thinking. I could try and explain it away, say maybe I had backup, but that wasn't the point. I just wasn't thinking, why wasn't I doing something smarter? What was the point of having Jay do the heavy lifting if I still got hurt in the process?

Ah, but that was my next mistake; thinking I could trust Jay or Cam. Maybe I had been caught up in how Cam seemed like such a good person, and how she was different from other humans. Or maybe I just wasn't thinking. All Jay had to do was tell a lie and stand by the house. All Cam had to do was stand in the road. All I had to do was stand in front of my mark and hope the others got there fast enough to cover me.

I should have just bumped into Lab as he was walking into the alley. I could have pretended I was taking a shortcut and expected him to keep walking. I could have played that off easily, looking to Cam and waving. It would have been much simpler. Not knocking down a potential demon with just a veil was a safer play. It was a smarter play, and that's what I should have done.

Was I just not listening? Scarlet had told me that our marks were good at cons, that they would know how to handle one. Yet I rushed in anyway and decided to do something that put me at risk. What would I have done if Samuel was a master of hand-to-hand combat and he beat me to death in the minutes it took Jay and Cam to walk over to the alley.

That thought got my attention. Jay and Cam were supposed to run into the alley the moment Samuel walked down it, but they hadn't. I was in the alley for just a short time before I tripped Lab. If he pulled me into his space the moment he hit the ground, Jay should have been nearby. She should have dashed over the moment Samuel turned the corner. Why hadn't she been there faster?

Had I been set up from the beginning? Was Cam just going along with a plan that Jay had made to get rid of me? Was I convinced they weren't bad humans when in reality they were just setting up an easy way to get rid of me? Why else would they leave me? Cam had all the info on our marks, Jay had the skills to take them down, but I was the only who could tell if they were a demon in disguise. Did Jay just decide she didn't want to deal with my plans anymore and leave me?

No, that couldn't be it. Lab had pulled me into his pocket at some point. I couldn't say when, but Jay and Cam weren't there, it was just us. That meant there was no help coming. They probably rushed into the alley and found nobody in there. I was an important part of the plan, they wouldn't just leave me.

I was the only thing that was keeping our game going. Sure, parts of it hadn't gone as expected. I didn't expect the hellhound, and I didn't expect them to be ready, though I couldn't have.

Could I?

Was I an incompetent player? Did I have no idea what was going on? Was I missing simple things that Jay and Cam were seeing clearly? Was I doing such a poor job that they decided they could do better and simply waited for me to be in a bad situation so they could leave me?

No, they couldn't have. Jay didn't want to kill any humans, and Cam said she didn't hate me. Without me they would have no way of knowing if there were demons in the human, or pretending to be them, like Lab.

But if she changed her mind then she wouldn't need me. Jay had mentioned that once she did her Trial she would be free. Freedom was worth a lot, and I had glimpsed her anger before. If she determined that killing a few humans was worth her freedom, then she wouldn't dwell on it. She'd kill them and be on her way.

So where did that leave me? If Jay killed Lab while I was in this pocket dimension, would I even know? What happened when two minds were linked and one of them died? Strictly speaking, I was in Lab's head, I just didn't know if that included physically or not. Maybe my body was still lying in the alley, maybe it wasn't.

If this was my real body, what would happen when the world in Lab's head broke around it? Would the area crumble and I would float through the void until I died? Would I end up back in that alley? Would I end up in the same room as Jay when she killed Lab?

Would I want to?

I was already in debt to Jay, probably twice at this point. Her saving my life with a bandage over my stomach wound, and another time when she told her brother I wasn't for her Trial, maybe. If she killed Lab and rescued me, intentional or not, that would be the third strike.

Three is a powerful number in the magical world. It has power for some reason. Anything done three times is extremely powerful and sound compared to one or two attempts. If Jay saved me a third time then I would be stuck with her. Even if she dismissed me I would still be honor bound to her. I would have to explain that, and the thought horrified me.

Being in debt to a human was bad enough, being bound to one was even worse. Being bound to them thrice was the worst thing I could imagine. She would have absolute control over me. Any order she gave me, offhand or intentional, I would have to follow.

Another question struck me. Was death a good alternative to slavery? Was it better to be Jay's slave than to die in this prison? Which one would I rather spend the rest of my life as: a slave or a prisoner?

Would I have a choice?


	18. Chapter 18

I stood up a few hours later. Or, maybe it was a few minutes, there's no real way to tell time in a featureless room with no sun or candles. I took a few steps out of the cage and looked around. Both directions showed me a hall made of the same material as the rock under my feet. I chose a direction and began walking. I had no real goal in mind, I just wanted to move.

A number of steps later I found myself in a large circular room. All around me were corridors just like the one I had left. I chose one at random and began to walk down it. It wasn't very long, but at the end there was a simple wooden door. I opened it, revealing a blank stone wall. I turned back around and found myself staring down the same hall I had entered from, cage and all. I frowned, but something clicked.

If this door lead me back here then it meant that every other door I would run into might lead me back here. That was the whole point of a labyrinth, confusion that leads you nowhere. However, there would be one door somewhere that wouldn't bring me back to this cage, it would be the exit. Lab would know which door it was by instinct, he could probably get there in under a minute. I had a few days before I collapsed and couldn't keep searching, but until then I had as much time as I could fit in until I fell asleep.

I moved into a jog and made my way back to the circular room. I chose the corridor closest to me, on my right, and moved down it. I opened the door at the end, but it was empty. I turned and rushed down my starting corridor, picking the next corridor. I repeated this seven times before the corridor I ran down lead to another circular room. I realized with dismay what this meant.

I had been in a room with maybe ten fake exits. There had actually been nine, one leading me towards another room with what I could guess was another nine fake exits and a path to another room. Or maybe there were eight exits and two rooms, or any combination that made ten. This could be the center room, with ten rooms branching off it. I needed a new method to search the potentially infinite prison around me.

I kept my shoulder next to the wall as I jogged. The right wall method. Simple, yet effective. At least, if there was a lot of time. If I made a solid path by following the right wall of where I started, without breaking it at any point, I would find the exit. It would take longer the bigger and more complex the maze, and this was a labyrinth. For all I knew there could be a door somewhere that would spin me around and put me somewhere I may or may not have been before, causing me to start over entirely.

I tried not to think about that as I grabbed another door and opened it. Frustrated, I turned around and continued running. This would literally be the death of me, I could tell, but there was no way in hell I was gonna let Lab see me beat. If I was going to die here, I would die in some random room so far away from the entrance that he would have to hire a professional bounty hunter just to find my body.

I stopped. At the end of this corridor in front of me was not a door, but a solid wall. It was glowing with a slight golden hue, and it was inching towards me silently. I took a step back and sprinted away, terrified at what that wall might mean.

I stopped, again, pausing to think. A wall that was glowing could mean that there was either some very crafty candles on the other side, or the wall had some magical properties. I might be stretching a bit by thinking this, but that wall very well may be an exit.

Or it could be something meant to kill me.

But if I was going to die here anyway then I might as well accelerate the process. I had come to peace with my death at some point between wishing I had never met Jay and standing up and searching for a way out. Or maybe I had come to peace with it right now, thinking that I was either going to be free or die here. Fifty fifty shot, I've bet on less, though not with my life.

I didn't have to choose if I would be a coward anymore. The corridor in front of me had ended, and there was another of those glowing walls. The one behind me was still inching silently towards me, so now I was stuck between two of them, albeit with a fair amount of room left.

“Of course,” I muttered to myself in Script as the walls seemed to pick up speed, “a rock and a hard place.”


	19. Chapter 19

I closed my eyes and waited for whatever comes with a death of being crushed between two walls. Maybe I had missed the stories that described it best, because it felt a lot like being tossed through a window and landing really hard on a wooden floor.

“Orion!” I heard Cam's voice, and opened my eyes.

I was in a room I had never seen before, though I had seen plenty like it. A generic office that any well off person might have in their home. A desk, several candles, a carpet, and a lot of paper. I mean a lot. It was all over the room, some of it floating around, some of it settling. Probably my fault, for whatever reason.

Next to me was Cam. She was kneeling down, the back of her hand against my forehead, frowning. I had no idea what she was doing, but I let her do it, it might have been important. In front of me, though, was an odd scene. Samuel, Lab to be precise, was forced up against a wall. Jay stood in front of him, actually holding him up against the wall, a Sky-forged dagger pressed up against his neck.

“Are you okay?” Cam asked.

“Yes...” I said, a little confused that I hadn't actually died. “Fine...”

Cam nodded and removed her hand. Without warning Jay grabbed Lab by the collar of his shirt and flung him to the ground, slamming his head to the floor. Before he could even catch his breath Jay shoved her dagger into his shoulder. He let out a scream, but Jay started talking.

“Tell me about Samuel,” Jay demanded.

“I'm looking!” Lab screamed.

“He's dead,” I chirped.

All sound seemed to vanish from the room. Lab's eyes shot open in horror, a sight Jay did not miss. She didn't look at me.

“Are you sure?”

“Sat there for hours,” I said, “someone alive might have said hello.” Of course, I was cracking a joke. I guess sarcasm is how I cope with trauma. Haha.

Jay nodded, then stood up. She reached for the sword on her back and pulled, once again filling the room with a brilliant blue light. Time seemed to slow as Jay swung her sword, cleanly slicing through Lab and the wooden floor below. When she finished her swing the sword had no blood on it, and Lab was dead.

I prepared mentally to feel magic fill the room, and it came quickly. Magic swirled through the air, blood flowed backwards, and that awful bone cracking sound returned. Lab's body flailed and cracked and shifted color and shape until it was the body of a hellhound. His head, several feet away, hadn't changed.

He just stayed dead, thank the stars. I looked over at Cam, who was shaking slightly. Her expression was blank, but her eyes were vibrating, and she was just barely shaking. She was taking slow, steady breaths. Maybe she didn't handle death as well as Jay did. I was passed out last time so I wouldn't know.

Jay sighed and put the sword back in its scabbard, then looked at me.

“What happened?” She asked. “You were just sitting in the corner sleeping.”

Was I? That answered a few questions. Lab must have had a very detailed and lifelike maze in his head, and pulled my consciousness into it. I had done something similar in the past but never to that detail or extent. At least I knew my body was still in this world, and as damaged as it was when I left it.

“I met Lab,” I sighed, not looking Jay in the eyes. “I found out he was a demon and called for you, but he had already put me in his...” I waved my hand, I had no idea how to say it. “Body was useless.”

“That explains it.” Jay nodded. “I ran over when Samuel turned inside, but nobody was there.”

Nobody was there? How long had I been in the alley for? Long enough to trip Lab, have a short conversation, and cast a spell. That was plenty of time, almost a full minute. When did it happen? Was I pulled into Lab's pocket dimension earlier than I thought? Was I in there the moment I offered my hand? Is that why I couldn't tell if anyone came for me?

“Where's my staff?” I asked, looking around. It wasn't with me in the pocket dimension, of course. “Was it in the alley?”

“It was there.” Cam said slowly, reaching back and grabbing my staff from her spider. It was broken in two. “But broken.”

“I see.” I said flatly. One of the runes I had wanted to put on my staff had been to reinforce it, making this exact outcome harder to get to. I wouldn't have the chance now. I would be lucky if it being in two pieces was the worst of it.

“So what?” Jay asked. “It's just a walking stick.”

“It's my talisman,” I retorted. I had had enough of Jay's attitude at this point. She had no respect.

“You can find another one,” Jay sneered.

“Tomorrow,” Cam spoke up, voice breaking slightly, “we should go home and get some rest. We're in no condition to go after another demon tonight.”

I sighed. Yeah, more time alone in my head was exactly what I needed. I had a lot of questions, but they could wait until morning.


	20. Chapter 20

Of course, I woke up in the middle of the night. Figures, the one time I might really need sleep and have the opportunity to get it I can't stay out for more than a few hours. So, I decided to do what I always do when I can't sleep. I went for a walk.

When not filled with magic, I think best when I'm in motion, and walking or pacing is the easiest way for me to think. This isn't that pleasant for anyone else in the room, and I didn't want Jay to decide killing me was worth a night of sleep, so I went for a walk outside. I put on my boots, gloves, trousers, and my big coat. Then I began thinking.

There had been major problems with our first two marks. Our first mark had turned into a hellhound. At this point my leg was basically healed, so that problem had sorted itself out. Our second mark had also done that, but was dead before it mattered. Beheading had put the first hellhound out of business, so it stood to reason it would stop them before they became a problem.

So the hellhound issue might be solved, but there was still the problems with the second mark. I had been captured, which resolved itself, even though I lost my talisman, but that meant that our marks knew about what we were doing. Who knows what information Lab managed to get out in the time between capturing and releasing me. For all I know he could have gone to his boss, told them everything, then gone back home.

But that wasn't even the worst part. I was now completely indebted to Jay. Three times she had saved my life. Actually, it wasn't that bad yet. I had set up a way out earlier, and I didn't feel completely in my mind that I was hers. When I said Jay would owe me one, that could count for this. That meant I was only indebted to her twice, as long as we finished her Trial. If my debt was being kept from full by my planning or my uncertainty, I couldn't tell. I just knew I wasn't completely dead yet.

To make matters worse we still had two marks. That was two more demons that Scarlet had told me were a lot smarter than I thought, and a lot tougher, too. I couldn't imagine who they might be or what they might do, and thinking about it more would only make me worry.

I looked up to see where I had walked to. The Falling Star bar, the same place as the other night. I still had money on me, Lab hadn't taken that, so I could buy a few drinks. Stars above I needed some.

I was only slightly surprised to see Scarlet sitting at the bar. If I didn't know any better I would have guessed she hadn't moved. Her dress hadn't changed, I remembered it in detail. I sat down next to her and ordered something cheap.

“You impress me,” Scarlet murmured quietly, in Script.

“Really?” I asked with a mix of cynicism and confusion. That was definitely not what I had been expecting to hear.

“You're halfway through your game. Despite the...” She fumbled for the right word, “issues.”

“More than a few, and worse than that,” I replied, receiving a shot and downing it. My fur stood on end and my throat burned for a moment. Humans have awful alcohol.

“So what's your next step?” Scarlet leaned forward, blinking at me.

“I don't know,” I answered honestly.

“You won't tell me?” Scarlet leaned back, feigning shock.

“No, I really don't know,” I laughed, “I don't have a talisman anymore so I'm basically out of options.”

Scarlet chuckled. “And here I thought you were some sort of mastermind.”

“If I was a mastermind I would be working for you.” I bowed my head in her direction.

“Perhaps.” Scarlet nodded, giving away nothing. “For now, though, I'm curious about how you work. I may be looking for someone with your skill set.”

“Running a game?” I asked, receiving another shot. Down. This one was only marginally better.

“Nothing so complex.” Scarlet shrugged. “I'm looking for the right candidate for a position, and you've caught my eye.”

“Ah,” I said, folding my arms on the table and putting my head down.

“How about we trade?” Scarlet said suddenly. “I have information you want, and you have information I want.”

“How do I know you'll tell the truth?” I asked, blinking slowly.

“You don't trust me?” Scarlet asked, feigning shock, again.

“Don't get me wrong, I'll jump at the opportunity to talk with another Tolrand, but I don't know you enough to trust you.”

“It is a unique experience to talk with one of my own. A gift, then, as a show of good faith.” Scarlet reached into her shadow and pulled out... a white rose.

“A rose?” I asked, sitting up and looking at it. “With a name like Scarlet I would have expected... red...”

As I was speaking the rose seemed to shudder and change color, suddenly a deep shade of red.

“If you'll be so kind as to let me pin this? I'll start, of course.”

“Of course,” I said slowly, letting Scarlet pin her rose to my lapel, but kept an eye on it.

“What is your next step?” She asked.

“Come up with a plan for our next mark,” I answered simply. It was my next step, I did need a plan. I just hadn't thought of one, or prepared myself for Jay to throw it back at me.

“And your trick this time?”

What flair should I add to this one? The first one involved me pretending to be a potential business partner, and I had gone deaf. The second involved me jumping my mark for info, only to end up getting locked inside a dungeon. Neither plan was complex, though they had gone wrong regardless. Simple wasn't the issue, I was.

“I won't be pulling any tricks,” I decided, “I'm done with games.”

“Now that has me interested,” Scarlet purred.

I raised an eyebrow, looking directly at her. She looked the same as she had the last time I saw her, which is to say she was stunning. But why did she have such an interest in me? She couldn't be that interested in me for a job.

“I had expected some sort of preparation.” She leaned to the side and put one hand under her chin. “You mean to tell me that you don't have a guaranteed way to take down the mark, that you need to think about it?”

“I'd be lying if I sad I was that good,” I chuckled. “Somebody out there might be good enough to just run something like this on the spot, but not me. I can't work every angle, and this is one of them. Pretending I could run this nearly got me killed. Twice.”

“Are you interested?” Scarlet leaned towards me, eying the the rose closely. It was surprisingly light. “In this position?”

“Mildly.” I answered. “But I'm sure a woman as smart as you has a number of other candidates. What makes you so interested in a nobody like me?”

“Your humility,” Scarlet answered quickly, “that you've tasted defeat, but learned from it, used it to make you stronger. You know you can't win every fight, but learn from them all the same. A valuable trait.”

That I could agree with. When anyone learns magic they begin to develop a god complex. No fault to the individual, it comes naturally. Changing the world around you under your own power, bending it to your will, that kind of power brings with it a type of arrogance, strong enough to get a lot of young sorcerers killed. I'd heard more stories than I wanted to remember about young and promising sorcerers getting themselves killed by thinking they were stronger than they actually were.

The side effects that came with magic certainly didn't help, either. It was something that you could only understand if you used magic. It filled you, body and mind, and changed how you thought. I've heard it compared to drugs, but never bothered to compare them myself. I just knew that like any other good thing, too much can be deadly, and a magical high could easily turn into a headache or worse.

Defeat was a valuable lesson, and enough of it could destroy any god complex. I learned about defeat early in life, before my first real victory. Back when I was young and ostracized from the other kids in town. That, and a number of failures later in life, very clearly beat into me that I wasn't the smartest demon in the world, and I was far from infallible. It also taught me there were plenty of people in the world smarter than me and better than me. I was talking to one of them right now.

“I'm guessing you won't tell me about the position unless I accept it or do something to prove I deserve it.”

“If you prove you deserve it,” Scarlet started, “then you'll already have it.”

“Cryptic.” I rolled my eyes. Third shot, down. “What's the rose?”

“A gift.”

“Of course. What does it do, though?”

“One of my personal collection, it changes color and shape. It goes well with any outfit.”

I frowned down at the rose. One from her personal collection? Well, I must be special if she was just giving it to me. Of course, it had gotten me talking openly with her about my plans, so it had served its purpose. If it was a gift, then I would accept it. Besides, a different colored rose or something would go nice with whatever costume I was wearing at the time.

“Color me impressed,” I said. “What else do you want to know?”

“Aundor had four, and you still have three,” Scarlet said simply.

“But he's down to two, now. You didn't answer my question.”

“I want you to win.”

I sighed. “You and me both. I'm having a little trouble. Actually, I keep getting myself in trouble.”

“You have your magic, surely you can get yourself out of trouble.”

“If I'm prepared, maybe.” I shrugged. “Not too helpful now that it's broken, though.”

“But you still have it.” Scarlet pointed out.

“I do.” I agreed. “I can still use it. It's just...”

“Just...?” Scarlet interrupted, voice sharp, almost accusatory.

“It's not the same,” I struggled to find the right wording, “I've had that staff for years. I made it myself, got the wood from a tree I chopped down, shaped and sanded it, put runes in it myself, put all my power in it. It's special.”

“It's wood,” Scarlet said flatly, “you'll make another talisman.”

I sighed. “Yeah, I guess.”

I could make another one. I could return home, find a nice tree, carve another staff out of it, and go from there. Runes, power, enchantments, all that jazz. It just felt like there wasn't much of a point, though. I would be stuck with my broken staff for the time being. It didn't feel worth remaking because it wouldn't be instantly perfect. I knew that train of logic more intimately than I wanted to.

“That's one less thing to worry about.” I mumbled, not looking at Scarlet. “Now I just have to worry about getting myself in trouble for the next step.”

“Then, don't put yourself in a position where you can get in trouble.” Scarlet made it sound so simple. “You know how to touch shadows, but you have more than one skill with that second group of magic.”

My darker sphere of magic, demon exclusive, mental magics as some humans referred to it. This is the one that let me reach into shadows or hold my own, apparently, and also possess other living creatures. It was also the magic Lab had used to hold my mind in his prison, but it's best use for someone like me would be possession. If I could possess someone I could force them to do anything I wanted, even if they disagreed with it. It wasn't a matter of convincing them, I would have full control. Or...

“You're fragile, Orion,” Scarlet laughed, “and you don't belong in the front of any fight.”

“But controlling who does is a different story. Or, hiding behind them.” I finished, Scarlet nodding.

I had to give her the point there. In a one on one fight I was about as useless as a sword without a wielder. I doubted I could win a physical fight if my opponent was blindfolded and had both their hands tied behind their back. I could take a hit well enough, but only because I lost enough fights to know how to. I couldn't deal back any damage, not without a whole lot of time or some magic tricks. Possession could solve that problem.

There were only two candidates: Cam and Jay. They were the only other members of the crew I was in. I doubted Cam would let me possess her, and I knew Jay was against the idea. But, whoever I possessed would become a seasoned grifter, and I could help come up with a plan on the fly. Not that either of those points seemed to matter to Jay.

It also left me safe to do what I do best. Not fight. And if the plan didn't hinge on me there was no need to worry. I could still look into the eyes of other demons through whoever I was possessing, and both Cam and Jay could handle themselves in a fight. In fact, I could relax while doing so.

“Now...” Scarlet started slowly, “what is your plan?”

I frowned. This wasn't going to be easy.


	21. Chapter 21

When I came back to the room at the inn it was light out, Cam and Jay were both awake, the window blinds were open, and light was filling the room. I was, of course, frustrated. I had gotten a grand total of no sleep considering how much time I spent planning with Scarlet. She had made a good sounding board, and I was feeling very confident in my plan even though I knew Jay would scrap it. Of course, I had to get over one incredibly tall hurdle. Oh, and Jay was ruining the talisman I had poured my heart and soul into.

“Morning!” Cam said cheerfully as I walked in. She must have been using magic, nobody could be this bright so early in the morning.

I mumbled something that vaguely resembled 'Good morning' and walked over to Jay, who looked up at me. Jay didn't seem to be much of a morning person either, but she was more awake than me. She was sitting on the edge of her bed, sharpening my talisman. She looked tired, but otherwise normal. She was holding the smaller part of my staff, maybe a third of the total length, and was sharpening one end with her knife. Cam was already dressed and taking on the day. Must be a human thing, morning didn't sit well with me.

“Please give that back,” I said quietly.

Jay stopped sharpening my talisman, took a moment to investigate her handiwork, then tossed it to me with a flat “whatever.”

I held the sharpened end up towards myself and looked carefully at it. Maybe now was a good time to mention that I had a lot of runes carved into my staff, and that those runes were the only reason I was able to use magic at the level I could. Without a rune, I needed much more power and a different mindset to use a spell.

I had spent weeks making sure each rune was the perfect size and shape, and that they covered every branch of magic I had any idea how to use, and some I didn't. The bigger and more complex runes were mostly intact, other than the fact that their connections were on the other end of the staff and were now useless. Sentences don't mean much when split down the middle.

Not that I ever used it, but almost all of my combat magic was useless. It was stronger when the runes were closer to each other, so I strung anything I thought might useful into one line. Easy access from one spell to another, but apparently at the cost of everything if it broke. I'd have to check the rest of my staff to see if Jay ruined that, or if Lab had done it.

“Sleep well?” Cam asked, first Jay, then me.

“No,” I said flatly, Jay simply nodded. “Couldn't sleep, needed a drink.”

Cam frowned. “How does having a drink help you sleep?”

“It doesn't,” I replied, “Human alcohol is awful.” Finding that Jay had carved off part of my talisman certainly warranted a few drinks.

“Pfft.” Cam laughed.

“Why?” I asked Jay. I would love to not deal with this problem at all, but here I was, about to do something stupid.

“You needed a weapon,” Jay said just as flatly, making eye contact with me. “Now its a stake.”

I maintained eye contact, and kept my voice cold. “Please consult with me next time you intend to ruin my talisman.”

I shoved the smaller piece into one of my pockets and grabbed my larger piece, which was broken but otherwise untouched. Jay hadn't ruined this part yet, thank the stars. I still had my main skills available to me, veils and other light based magic. I sighed audibly.

“What?” Jay asked, tone sharp.

“My runes are ruined,” I replied, monotone.

“What does that matter?”

Stars above Jay really didn't know anything about magic, did she? How could I make this simple enough for her to understand?

“Your language is basic,” I started. “but this is a big deal. Magic will be more difficult.”

“Your talisman still works. What's the issue?” Jay glared at me.

The issue was that I would have an incredibly difficult time trying to use most forms of magic now. I had runes that were basically shortcuts to casting spells and helping me not die as quickly. I didn't have a knack for powerful or explosive magic, so I had shortcuts to cut down the time needed to build a spell and launch it, since I already had it built and just needed to power it.

“I can't fight.” I left it at that. I had to explain to Jay a veil in simple words, there was no point trying to explain fine details.

“So...” Cam butted in and trailed off, ever the diplomat. “What's the plan for today?”

“Breakfast,” Jay said after a moment of silence.

“There's a pastry shop around the corner,” Cam suggested. “Maybe something with sugar will jump start our day?”

Pastries? Sure, that sounded fine. Really any food would be fine at this point, I was starving. And sugar would definitely jump start my day, but I might crash later. By the time that happened, though, I would have explained my plan and hopefully have Jay on board. Once that happened I was basically done. I could probably sleep if I wanted to.

I was already standing and ready, so I put my hat on and left the inn, waiting outside the front door. The town was already starting to wake up, humans were moving about and cars were driving lazily across the near empty streets. A few humans in uniform were walking through the area, and gave me a look someone more sensitive might have found hurtful. I didn't care, I felt removed from the world right now. I could worry about mean looks once I was free.

The pastry shop wasn't very far from the inn, just a few minutes walk. I was too tired to care about what to order, any food would be good. Cam ordered for me, Jay too, while I waited outside and sat down at a small table. A cool breeze on a day like this might be nice. It was warm, and the air was heavy. Being covered in fur was a curse unless you lived somewhere cold, and Arul was certainly a warm place.

“Been here before?” I asked Jay as she sat down, deciding awkward conversation would be better than silence. I didn't want to talk to her, but if I wanted her to agree with my plan I should be amicable.

“Twice.” She held up two fingers. “Once for Cam's birthday, and again when I became an apprentice.”

Celebrating the anniversary of one's birth isn't something we do in demon culture, we live too long, it just gets tedious. Getting an apprenticeship isn't normally cause for celebration either. Mine certainly wasn't.

“How was your apprenticeship?” I asked, yawning.

“Better than I expected.” Jay shrugged.

I waited for more, but when Jay remained silent rolled my eyes. “Sounds like an exciting time.”

“Not like you care.” Jay rolled her eyes back. “You're just a demon. And you wanted out after all this.”

“I just want to get paid for my services.” I said, but perked my ears anyway. Jay had accepted that I didn't want to stick around. If I could get her to tell me to leave twice, either before this was all done or sometime near the end, I would be free. Good thing Jay was a distant human, I wouldn't miss her in the slightest. Good thing I was a distant person, it should make forgetting this whole fiasco easier.

“Here we are,” Cam appeared, smiling and holding a large platter which contained a large number of pastries.

“What is that?” I indicated a large mound on the tray.

“A cupcake,” Cam identified it immediately. “Apparently I ordered enough to get a free one. Never had one before?”

“I've had cake...” I stared sideways at the cupcake. It was like Cam's spider, I didn't like it.

“It's like cake, but smaller, and you eat it all at once,” Cam pushed it towards me.

I left the cupcake where it was. It was smaller than my palm, and it had a lot of something on it. Jam, maybe? Cream? It looked like someone had taken the filling of a pastry and put it all on top, swirling it. It was excessive in every sense of the word. Why would anyone want one of these?

“Try it,” Jay said, laughing.

“It's... big...” I commented, trying to find a way to get out of this situation. Jay had ordered me to try it, mockery included free of charge, so I had to.

I glared at the cupcake, it wasn't as big as a slice of cake, but it was still big for a pastry. I've had an easier time talking to marks than I had convincing myself that eating this monstrosity was a good idea. I still didn't think it was smart, but Jay had ordered me to try it, I actually didn't have a choice in the matter anymore.

So I took a breath, reached out, and grabbed the cupcake. It was soft, though I had expected that. An entire cake in the palm of my hand. That was a lot of sugar...

It might have been worth mentioning that demons, or maybe just Tolrand, or maybe just me, react to sugar a little differently than humans, but I was past that point now.

I tore the cupcake from the bottom, taking out a small chunk with jam on it. I placed the rest of the cupcake down on the plate and put the chunk in my mouth. It was extremely sweet, overly so, I felt my face screw up when I ate the jam. This one cupcake probably had about as much sugar in it as an entire cake.

At the same time, though, it was really good. The cupcake itself was light and fluffy, and it tasted like vanilla. The jam was some kind of berry, though I couldn't tell what, and the whole piece tasted wonderful. The amount of sugar was surprising, though, and I had reacted in a number of ways.

“That's cute,” Cam whispered quietly while Jay just stared at me.

I tried to glare at them, but knew I wasn't pulling it off. I could feel my ears twitching repeatedly, and my face was screwed up as though it was trying to shrink in on itself. I tried to relax and put up a straight face. Gradually, I felt my tail soften up and curl slightly, no longer rigid. I also managed to open my eyes back to a normal amount and keep my mouth straight.

“You've got something...” Jay said slowly, trailing her thumb and forefinger away from her mouth, the same way a man with a mustache might absently twirl the ends.

I understood what she meant, though. I had jam on my whiskers. I could feel it, one side of my face felt a little heavier than the other. I briefly debated wiping my face on my sleeve, but decided against it. I had too much dignity to be acting like a common house cat when humans or other demons were around.

“It's sweet,” I said, dragging my fingers along my whiskers and picking up the jam. I would need to wash my face later.

“Aren't you gonna finish it?” Cam asked, starting on a normal pastry.

I glared at the cupcake again. I had basically eaten an entire slice of cake with just that one piece. The whole thing was probably filled with more sugar than I could handle. I wasn't worried about my health, I was concerned with crashing later.

Sugar works differently on demons than it does on humans. At least, I've never seen a human react to sugar the way I did, so I assumed it worked differently. I wouldn't call it a drug, but it was certainly potent enough to seem like one. Once the sugar hit me I would be extremely tense for the next few hours. If I was a loose piece of string right now, then I would be pulled taught for several hours, later.

Maybe the right words are that it made me stressed. No demon made food ever had as much sugar as a human cake, and I doubted my body liked it. The drawbacks to sugar were enough to never make me have more than a single slice of cake at any party I attended. It would be like a hangover. I would be exhausted, irritable, and have a splitting headache. It was like magic, I would think more clearly for a while, but it cost money instead of energy. It was a massive headache waiting to happen if I wasn't careful. I had committed, though, and I would have to deal with the consequences later.

“Too much sugar,” I decided, and reached for a normal pastry.

Cam shrugged and accepted the comment, Jay didn't say anything. We sat in silence as we ate the rest of the pastries. These ones also had sugar, though not nearly as much. By the time Cam decided to finish the cupcake I was already beginning to feel the effects. I started to feel antsy, like I had to get up and walk around, and I started tapping my foot.

When we walked back to the inn and sat down on the beds I was in top gear. Well, not really, I already had my plan, so there wasn't any thinking or pacing that needed to go into it. That didn't stop me from thinking and pacing, though. Oh, I was pacing.

I was pacing a lot faster than normal, drumming my fingers on my arms. Really a bad time for sugar, I thought to myself. It would have been better to do this at the end, when we were going for the last mark. That would have been much better. Actually, not doing this at all would have been the best option, just deny the cupcake. Too much sugar, I said that as a reason not to finish it, I should have said it from the start. But it was fine, just a little rush, nothing I couldn't handle.

I turned. Right, I was stuck in my head. Not a good sign. The day was just starting. If I was already unconsciously ignoring the humans around me this early in the morning I could only imagine how distant I would be all day.

I shook my head, pushing away those thoughts. Focus. I needed Jay to agree with my plan and then to do basically everything else with almost no help and advice from me. Actually, she did that anyway, but also threw in me getting hurt somehow, so I had to avoid that. She wouldn't take my advice or help even if she needed it. So I just needed her to agree with my plan. Well, that shouldn't be too hard. I had just gotten two thirds of my plan out of the way, all I had left was this last part.

“Yes.” I said suddenly, clapping once very loudly. “Plan.”

I started pacing again, faster. I had one arm crossed over my stomach, my other elbow resting in the palm of my hand, my thumb and forefinger on my chin. My thinking pose. It helped me think.

I spoke quickly.

“So we have two marks left. Based on what we've seen from the last two we can assume that these two will be powerful. Our first demon was strong enough to put me out of commission, and he was hiding in a shadow. The second, Lab, was clever and strong enough to hold an entire labyrinth in his head. I think. If either of them are indicators for what we can expect when we go after our next marks then these next two are going to be on an entirely different level. Probably smarter, too. That's why I'm putting Jay in charge.”

I stopped pacing and stood in front of Cam and Jay. I waited for what must have been a subjective hour before they reacted. Cam was leaning back casually, twirling her hair. She didn't really react to what I said, which told me I was either speaking the wrong language or she wasn't surprised. I mean, we all knew that eventually Jay would take control. Well, she had control, but I was still basically in charge. Actually, I had never been in charge, where did that thought come from?

Jay just didn't react either. It was almost like she didn't hear me.

“I've been in charge,” Jay said simply.

“Right,” I said, going back to pacing. “You've been in charge. But you needed me for my senses, but every time I try and do anything I end up getting hurt or somewhere I shouldn't be.”

“Not my problem,” Jay said, again, simply, maybe with a touch of happiness. It looked like she was trying to hide it, but she had a very small smile on her face. She probably enjoyed watching me squirm.

“Anyway,” I said, clapping again. “I think the demons ahead of us are too smart for me. I'm not really going to be able to even come up with a plan that works at all. I mean, Lab was able to take me down in a few seconds, he was expecting me. By the way, why didn't his head turn into a hellhound?”

My mind was like one of those new train stations, but if all the trains were there at the same time running on tracks way too close to each other. More than one hundred trains of varying shapes and sizes where running around, just dying to be let loose to do whatever it is trains do, and there was a little me trying to direct them all in an orderly fashion. Only problem, he was asleep at his post. Or maybe he just wasn't there. Or maybe there were just too many trains. I would have to dock his pay. My pay. I didn't want to dock my pay.

“Regicide,” Jay said.

“I don't know that word,” I replied quickly.

Jay rolled her eyes. “My sword. It's called Regicide. My older sister used it to kill a demon king.”

“We don't have kings,” I said, not quite grasping the idea that Jay's sister, a LeMonte, had apparently taken down a demon powerful enough to call themselves a king. Stars above Jay's sister had taken down a demon powerful enough to call themselves a king! “Who was it?”

“Never met them.” Jay shrugged. “Someone who was terrorizing a neighboring continent overseas. Seline said he called himself The Demon King, but other demons called him The Hunter.”

The Hunter? Oh! The Hunter! He wasn't a king. Well, they weren't a king. They were a Demon Lord, the strongest of the eight most powerful demons in existence who ruled over the other seven in a council to guide demons forward. There was no voting process, no recruiting process, you just were a Demon Lord. But you didn't know who was a Demon Lord. They had cloaks of shadow that could hide their identity, but they gave off this power that let you know they were strong. Or, at least, I had heard. I've never met a Demon Lord, and I was nowhere near good enough to be considered one.

Actually, now that I thought about it, I hadn't heard about this. Sure, it happened overseas, but if a Demon Lord was killed, you'd think I would hear about it. I mean, I was a demon! Maybe I wouldn't hear about it, though. It would be a secret. If there were seven and the Hunter then the balance would be thrown off. Maybe the seven didn't know? Maybe they did. Maybe a new Hunter has risen up already. Maybe the real Hunter didn't die.

I hope they didn't die. As far as I knew, they were the most public Demon Lord. If something happened in the war for us or against angels it was usually attributed to the King. I'd heard they were extremely powerful. Powerful as in more powerful than the Demon Lord who's whole thing was being really really powerful. Whatever their name or title was.

“And your sister took them down alone?” I asked, suddenly very worried about the sword Jay carried.

“If it scares you more, yes,” Jay said, giving me a grin.

So, no. She had a team of who knows how many. Maybe it was an army, maybe it was a group of individuals hand picked for the fight. I didn't know, and I wasn't sure I wanted to.

But I was missing the point. Jay's sword, Regicide, ooh what a name, had cleanly removed a hellhound and a demon's head. That they had turned into hellhounds at all was probably an omen of terrible things yet to come. Still, it was a complex bit of magic that required a lot of energy, and way more skill than I had at this moment. That is, if it was implemented and not just natural. I doubted it was natural.

But this told me a few things. First, Aundor, since he or she was running this game, was extremely talented and powerful, or at least very clever to have that kind of magic on their side. But I knew that already, I knew they would be clever. But it also told me that they were a real mastermind, one who knew that this mission was dangerous. If they wanted magic on their side that activated at death then, hoo boy, they were prepared to die for this.

But why did they want this so badly? I could understand wanting control over Sky-forged weapons and Hell-forged weapons, but willing to die for it? Then again, it was kind of a goal worth dying for. If demons controlled the forgery trade we had essentially won the war. I did want to win the war, even though I had no stake in it personally. I was sort of removed from the whole situation. Someone with a more personal stake might be a little more obsessed than I was.

Next train: my plan.

“Yes!” I clapped for the third time and began pacing again, when did I stop? “Jay, you're completely in charge of the rest of this. You don't take my plans, so unless you want my opinion on something I'm just your demon finder now.”

“So nothing changes,” Jay said. “Except you stop trying to act like you're in charge.”

“I have a plan to help keep me out of your way,” I stopped pacing, my foot tapping. “Possession.”

“No,” Jay said quickly.

“Come on!” I whined, realizing I had put my whole body in that. “It's so much easier.”

“It's not happening,” Jay said flatly. “You can't convince me that it's worth it.”

All the trains in the station that my head was pretending to be just stopped. All the tracks turned and pointed towards that last statement. You can't convince me that it's worth it? Oh, yes I could. I was hyper focused on a single goal right now, get Jay to let me possess her, and I had the perfect idea to get her to say yes. No, far from perfect, but I could at least throw a lot of trains at a brick wall and hope one of them broke through.

“You can toss me out anytime you want,” I said, “and you can go about this completely your own way because you just have to make physical contact with the mark and I can tell you if they're a demon or not. It saves you from having to rely on me for anything it cuts out time and effort.”

When Jay didn't immediately say no I knew I had won. All the trains in my mind started blaring their horns as loud as they could, and the little conductor me suddenly woke up and started screaming. Nice!

“Fine,” Jay said flatly. “Explain it to me.”

“It's nothing permanent and nothing formal,” I said quickly. “I'm basically just hiding in your shadow so you can see if the mark is a demon or not. This way you have freedom and I'm not in a dangerous position.”

“But you're fine putting me in a dangerous position?” Jay crossed her arms.

“I've nearly died twice!” I threw my arms up in defeat. “And you're an assassin who trained her whole life to kill demons. You've got knives, and your super sword that stops hellhounds, and you actually know how to fight. Once I can't talk my way out of a situation I'm done for! You can at least run fast.”

“Whatever,” Jay rolled her eyes. “How do you know possessing me will work?”

“I've done it before,” I waved vaguely. I had, but I didn't want to get into it. I only knew the physical contact part would work because Scarlet told me it would work and neither of us were lying to each other. Normally, I wouldn't risk myself on information from a new confidant, but I didn't have much of a choice and Scarlet had given me that nifty flower, so I would take it. Did I have that flower on, still? Was it in my pocket?

Luckily, nobody in the room questioned me. I had either said it in the way I normally speak, or I had been so hyped up on sugar that nobody could tell what I was saying anymore. Either way, it worked.

And I did know enough about possession to get through this. I wasn't entirely lying, anyway. I had possessed humans before, just not humans with the intent of spotting demons. Willing possession was a little different, though. Actually, I shouldn't be thinking like this, I genuinely cannot tell if I'm thinking out loud or not. I'm not, am I? It's fine, I think in Scirpt and images and pages.

“Okay.” Jay stood up. “How do you do it?”

“Simple. Move away from the beds.”

I grabbed my staff from the bed, both pieces, and stood in Jay's shadow, reaching for the magic within me. The best way to explain it, have I done this before, is that I have two little spheres of magic. One is filled with very clear magic, and that's what I use to cast normal spells. The other sphere is dark, and is filled with my demonic magic, which I can use for other types of spells. I might sometimes throw a touch of demon energy into a normal spell, to make it stronger or make an illusion seem more real, but I didn't need to. It wasn't that I couldn't, or didn't want to, I just never really needed to.

In this case, though, I reached into that dark sphere and pooled the power into my thoughts, feeling like a cool breeze had brushed away most of my thoughts. I tightened my grip on my staff and let the rest of my mind fall away. With a few breaths I felt very calm, back to my normal levels of energy. Stray thoughts faded, all the trains had stopped, and I exhaled slowly, letting the energy move through my talisman and out into the world. I focused on Jay's shadow, and imagined all my power moving from where I stood into it. I felt a slight tug, a tiny amount of magic being drawn off the top of my spell, stop in my staff, but ignored it.

When I opened my eyes I could tell the possession had worked. I was still standing behind Jay, in the room at the inn, but the room was now muted in color, and when Jay turned her head I felt a pull on mine, wanting to turn the same way. My Sugar-hyped energy began to return, in contrast to the very removed and almost ghostly sense of the magic in my head.

“He just vanished,” Cam said, leaning forward and staring at Jay's shadow. “He just dropped into your shadow.”

She couldn't see me now! Whatever magic she worked to see me through a veil didn't work now, haha!

“It worked.” I shrugged to Jay, trying to play off how excited I was. Perfect! Now I was safe, and I could sleep!

“You look like a ghost.” Jay squinted at me.

“Consider yourself haunted.” I rolled my eyes. How do humans know what ghosts look like? They don't even exist on this plane!

“So, how does this work?” Jay asked. “If you're right here then how can you tell if our target is a demon?”

Valid question from someone being possessed, first time or not.

“You become my senses.” I said, holding up a hand and waving my fingers. “Touch a human and if they're possessed I will know. And, I can do this.” I bowed my head slightly, and took a step into Jay.

I'll be honest, I had never thought about what happened to the physical body when a demon possessed someone, and I couldn't come up with a solid explanation for it. I refused to believe my body dissolved or merged with Jay's through magic, or that it stopped existing until I left. Maybe it was like what I first though with Lab, and my body was stored in a small pocket dimension, or another plane. I had no way to know.

Regardless, I didn't have a physical body right now. That meant I could step into Jay and essentially force her out of her body, making her the non-existent ghost. When I did, my view shifted and I found myself looking through Jay's eyes. The world had returned to normal color, though my view was a little different than normal. Was Jay the same height as me?

I turned slightly, almost losing my balance, to face Cam. I wasn't used to this body, or all the weight Jay was carrying. Did all her gear seriously weigh this much? And she never made a sound when walking? Incredible.

“What do you think?” I asked, hearing Jay's voice instead of my own. “Convincing?”

Cam nodded. “You can certainly pass for a guy, now. You stand like one. Have you never pretended to be a girl?”

“Never had to.” I mumbled, shifting my weight and crossing my arms, then giving Cam my best uninterested stare. She looked suddenly unsure. I grinned, then stepped forward and out of Jay, who blinked a few times and focused on me.

“Don't do that again,” Jay commanded.

“You're the boss.” I shrugged, sitting down on a bed. It didn't sink under my weight, which was odd. It was still soft. Also, that had been a command. Even if I wanted to, I couldn't do a full take over.

“So is that all you can do?” Jay asked. “All or nothing possession?”

I frowned. “There's more to it, but I'm not an expert. I don't know everything about possession.”

I could almost hear Scarlet laughing at me.

I moved to Jay's side and lifted one of her arms and let it drop. “That's not very hard to do, but you weren't resisting. Here, try and walk forward.”

I moved in front of Jay and placed my hands against her shoulders, leaning forward. I could feel Jay's will to move forward working against my own. After a moment I let go, moving to the side. Jay took a step forward.

“You can hold me back?” She asked.

“A battle of wills,” I corrected. “I have the bonus of putting a physical action with it. Don't make me do anything I'll regret, I'm kind of you right now.”

“Don't control me, and we'll get along fine,” Jay replied, “and don't hold me back.”

No full possession, no control, and no holding her back. That didn't leave me a lot to do while I was here. I'd have to get creative to justify any action I took.

“So what's it feel like?” Cam asked, leaning towards Jay. “Being possessed?”

“No different,” Jay replied, making her hand into a fist a few times, “maybe you should try it?”

“I'm not just offering this like it's some ride!” I folded my arms, pouting. At least Cam frowned and backed away. “I'm not excited about this, you know.”

“Then why offer?” Jay asked, glaring at me.

I sighed. “Because you're better for this job then I am.”

“Finally, he says it.” Jay rolled her eyes.

“What?” Cam asked. “What did he say?”

Now I was glad Cam couldn't hear me. Cam and Jay didn't respect me, so I didn't want them to actually hear me saying anything like this. But I needed their help if I wanted to get through the next few days alive.

“You're meant for fighting, I'm not. And these demons are looking for a fight. Like it or not, we're working together, but I can't be trying to fight anyone when I'm no good at it.”

“Okay.” Jay nodded. “So from here on it's my plan? You won't try and stop me?”

“Your show.” I gestured to her. “If you want help I can offer advice, but this is all you.”

“Right.” Jay paused, thinking. “Cam, let's go gather some intel.”

Cam nodded and stood up.

“Time for some action,” I mumbled, walking out of the room next to Jay.


	22. Chapter 22

Boring.

I lost track of how many times I had thought this. After leaving the inn we had gone to Bryce's house, he was our next mark. Unlike last time we sat outside a mark's house, though, we didn't send anybody in and set up a con. This was just observing. Jay wanted to watch the house for Bryce and follow him when he left.

“Stop it.” Jay whispered to me.

“Too much energy.” I replied, stopping my pacing and sitting down.

I was still hyped up on sugar, and the energy was making me restless. That's all, though, I was just restless from energy, the ghostly feeling of possession had faded. Pacing back and forth, silently since I wasn't technically in the alley, was taking care of the energy. But Jay didn't like that, for some reason.

The real reason I was bored was because I wasn't doing anything. Normally, when I was waiting during a con or game I had something to occupy my mind. Team members to talk to, plans to review or revise, something. Anything. But right now I wasn't running a game, I was just Jay's help while she ran her own show. The very thought of being a tool like this made my skin crawl.

“I need to do something.” I started, standing up and pacing. I had stopped, then started again, order fulfilled. “But I can't leave the alley because it's too far from you. I need something to occupy my mind but you're in charge of this part and I don't have anything I can advise on because there's not really more than a few ways to sit outside somebody's house and watch it. Do we even know he's in there? He could have left really early and now he might be doing something on the other side of town!”

“Shut it.” Jay glared at me. I clamped my jaw shut.

“Glad I can't hear him.” Cam laughed.

How was I supposed to know that the same day I possess you is the same day I get hyped up on sugar and we plan to do literally nothing for several hours? I had already fulfilled the 'shut it' order, so I could have said this, but decided saying confrontational things wasn't the smartest right now. So I just glared at her.

“Cam?” Jay asked, probably sensing my frustration. “What do we know about Bryce?”

Jay had already asked this question, and we had already gone over what Cam knew about Bryce. Jay was probably just doing this to get me to stop talking and mull over information, even if just for a minute.

“He's made a lot of progress on Hell-forged technology.” Cam repeated herself. “I don't know where he gets all the information, but he's made a lot of money off investments he's made in that side of the business, and he's done a lot of good research himself, though from what I've heard he mostly just supervises the leads of each team and pays their bills. The whole reason we have Hell-forged weapons that work as well as they do is because of his contributions.”

I thought about that information again. I reached the same conclusions as last time she had said it. Bryce was a smart man, and a man like that would have a strong will. That meant it was unlikely he was possessed by a demon. Of course, Scarlet had given me two names of demons earlier, Nol and Aundor. That told me she respected the two in some way, maybe for strength, maybe for intelligence.

But another thought occurred to me this time. Scarlet didn't have all the information, if she did she wouldn't bother telling me she might want me for her position, she would already know if I would fit it. That meant there was more to this than I had previously thought. Or, there could be more, but I didn't have enough information to make that call. Maybe she knew all the cards in our hands but had no idea how we would play them?

I also didn't have enough information to make the call that Bryce was a low level player. He might be a small player compared to the humans or demons above him, but if our first mark was the weakest then we had a lot to worry about. I had nearly been permanently deafened by one surprise, and nearly killed by one mistake, I was saved by luck both times. Well, luck and a LeMonte.

I would need to get more information. I didn't have all the pieces to this puzzle, there was a lot of info that I just didn't have. If I could find out where Nol and Aundor were then I could fit a few more pieces together.

“Argh, I don't get it!” I shouted, grabbing my head and leaning back. “How am I supposed to make a plan when I don't have all the info?”

But Jay wasn't listening. She was currently standing at the edge of the alley, peering out. I stood up and walked over, stepping out of the alley and staring down the street. While I had been lost in thought Bryce had left his house and was walking down the street. Well, there was one piece of information. He had been home this whole time.

“Let's follow him,” Cam suggested.

“Let's search his house,” I suggested at the same time.

Jay froze, thinking.

“You search his house,” Jay said quickly, eyes flicking to me. “Cam, we'll follow him and figure out the best place to ambush him.”

“Isn't now a good time?” Cam asked. “If we pull him into the alley and he's a demon we can just take him out right now.”

Jay shook her head. “He's heading for the trolley. We can get on and tail him that way, maybe ambush him once he gets off. Orion, check his house.”

“I'm not going alone!” I said loudly. “Being in a dangerous situation is the exact reason I wanted to go with possession.”

“You wanted to search his house, so do it,” Jay said flatly. “We'll follow him. If anything goes wrong, meet back at the inn.”

“Okay.” Cam and I said in unison, Cam with much more enthusiasm than me.

Getting out of possession was pretty simple. I stood in Jay's shadow, put my hands on her shoulders, and hoisted myself up. My real body came out of her shadow, and not a moment later I was standing in the alley behind Jay. An instant later my staff popped up, too. Still broken, so I had to grab both pieces. I put the smaller one in one of my pockets.

“Let's move.” Jay clapped Cam's shoulder, the two walking out of the alley. I watched them hurry towards the trolley that was on its way.

“Just me,” I said nervously, waiting a few moments so nobody passing by would think I was with the girls.

I stepped out of the alley towards Bryce's house. There was almost nobody around for Arul, which meant a lot of humans walking around, but I was dressed well enough not to arouse suspicion simply by being in the area. I casually walked to Bryce's door and tried the knob. Locked, of course.

What can I do about this? I didn't have a key, so I would have to use something else. My staff wasn't exactly good enough to be a key, and I couldn't break down the door. Looks like I would have to use magic.

I placed my hand over the lock as I reached for my magic. I poured just a little into the lock, just barely filling it, took a short breath, then mentally pulled back on it, yanking all the heat out of it. An instant later, the lock was filled with ice, and I was able to turn it. The door unlocked with a satisfying click, and I was in.

I shook my head as I closed the door and turned the lock. Even if it was little, that bit of magic was the opposite of what I had worked earlier. Heat based magic had a habit of making its user a little more hotheaded, and I was not someone who could back up being hotheaded. I took a few seconds to steady my breathing and focus on not getting riled up.

When I felt calm I took a look around the immediate room. It didn't look like anybody was home. I briefly considered doing something to the bit of ice currently jammed into the lock. Given the temperature outside it wouldn't stay frozen for very long. I could melt it now, or just let it stay. I would let it stay, I could always make another one when I left.

Since I had pulled a lot of heat out of the air to make ice, that heat had to go somewhere. In this case, I had just taken the heat, which meant that I was a whole lot warmer than was comfortable. I opened my mouth and let out a slow breath, hot steam pouring out of my mouth. It was uncomfortable, and risked burning my tongue if I used too much, but was much more subtle than suddenly having a puff of steam appear around me in front of a door. Mental and physical side effects, magic was sometimes more trouble than it was worth.

Right now, though, I stood in a regular entry way. A small hall, carpet on the floor, with several rooms breaking off of it. The furthest room seemed to be a sitting room, there were a lot of comfortable looking chairs in there. I took a careful step forward and looked into the rooms on either side. One of them looked like an office, may as well start there.

“I think I'm alone...” I muttered, mostly to myself, but also to the little conductor who was still directing too many trains. Toot toot.

The office was plain. Now that I thought about it, all offices were plain. They never had much in them. Window, curtains, maybe a carpet, a desk, a chair or two, maybe a bookcase, not a whole lot overall. The room never came right out and said innovation or luxury. This room didn't have anything for lighting other than the window and, surprisingly, electric lights. I wasn't about to do anything to either of them given that I had broken into the house.

I started looking through the desk, idly noting that there were coins on the desk and casually slipping them into my pocket. I'm a demon who looks like a cat, humans have a word for what I just did. I'd use thievery or stealing, they probably wouldn't.

There were several drawers, one of which felt a little stuck. I pulled a little harder, forcing it open a bit. I didn't say anything aloud, I tried to focus. My head was still running way too fast, some trains were slipping by the mini me and rushing to the front of my mind. I would definitely be docking our pay.

As terrifying and dangerous as the past few days had been, they had also been exciting. I mean, ignoring all the pain and injuries and constant danger, of course. Meeting and talking with Scarlet was thrilling, and working a complex game with an assassin, demons, and the forgery trade was a story I would tell all the time if it wouldn't get me killed. I had to admit, when I wasn't actively in pain, it was a lot more exciting than counting cards to win a little cash. Stars above, it was dangerous, but when I really thought about it I did miss this kind of life. Maybe I could get back into it...

No, not yet, that was the hotheaded me talking. I had enough trouble lingering around me as it was. I shouldn't even be thinking about getting back in the business until I was free. I needed to get rid of my debt to Jay and get as far away from her as possible. Once I actually had a place to sleep I could consider it. In a few years, maybe.

But it was fun. Dangerous, but there's a certain thrill in making plans only to find out nothing goes as you expected. If I wasn't constantly at risk of getting hurt I might be actively enjoying this. For now, though, I was okay with searching through the papers in this desk drawer. I wasn't about to get kicked or bitten while doing this.

“Find anything good?” I asked myself as I pulled out a stack of papers.

“Journal entries,” I replied, skimming the information on the top paper. “Looks like Bryce was keeping a detailed log of every business encounter he had in a given day.”

Is that smart? Did humans do that? Well, I knew demons did. Maybe only a few, but I knew them. They kept some pretty detailed records, but they weren't this easy to access. They were usually written in some kind of code, or a different language, but these were just written in the human language. Luckily for me, I had been living in this plane for a while now, I could both speak and read the language. I was far from a natural speaker, but I was good enough. Conjunctions, contractions, grammar, I could do most of it pretty well.

“If someone like me gets their paws on papers like this it could be very very bad for your run of the mill businessman.” I answered aloud a question I didn't ask. Or did I?

Something about this whole situation wasn't sitting right with me. I folded my arms, leaning back against the wall behind me. Bryce is fairly well off, right? Cam said he's the leader of Hell-forged technology, a very lucrative business. He's got all that money, so where does he put it? I haven't met a human who wouldn't flaunt their wealth in some way. Sure, he's got a nice house and leaves money lying around, but that was all standard for a well off human. I mean, this office matched every other office I had been in, but it just didn't feel right.

“I don't know humans.” I declared, leaning forward again. But I did know wealth and greed...

“From what I've seen, they like to brag. If they have the chance, they'll show off their wealth to anyone who'll look. But this room doesn't even have a nice chair in it. And this curtain is the same quality as the inn, and Bryce makes way more than they do. But the room at the end of the hall has nice things in it, but it looked like a bedroom, where he would only ever go to sleep.”

So he's spending his money, but he's not showing it off?

Right. And he's writing this info down himself. He has someone to do this for him.

“How do you know that?” I asked myself.

“Because he has the money!” I spread my arms. “There's no doubt about it. Cam all but said he's running the Hell-forged industry. There's no way a guy like him wouldn't be making enough money to hire someone to write down things for him. This guy probably gets reports from team leaders instead of talking to them in person, he's probably too busy for something like that. I can't understand why he would write down all this information himself when he would have someone to do it for him.”

I paused, striking my signature thinking pose. If Bryce wrote down all the information himself there must be a reason. Maybe the same reason I write down information in my mental library, I consider it important. So maybe this information was important to him?

But what would a guy like this consider so important he had to write it down himself? Was somebody messing with his accounts, stealing money? Personally written records could put a stop to that. I didn't know this guy, though, so I would have to shelve this idea for now.

What did I know beyond a doubt? Fact: Bryce has enough money to hire a secretary to write down information like this for him. Fact: Bryce has pushed the development of Hell-forged weapons forward with his research. Were these two connected? Maybe not...

Cam had said Bryce made a lot of money off Hell-forged weapons. I wasn't going to pretend I knew much about what went into the forgery trade, but I did know enough about investing to hold a level conversation. There was always the risk that when you invest money you were wrong, and that the money you spent was wasted. Of course, more money means more risk, but if you were right it means more success and a big return.

If Bryce was putting a lot of money into Hell-forged weapons then it meant that he was confident he would be getting his money back, confident in the success of Hell-forged weapons. Truth be told any weapon turned Hell-forged would be successful, but where would he get enough confidence to make a lot of money? Sky-forged weapons seemed just as valid a place to invest money as Hell-forged weapons.

But smart businessmen don't invest a lot of money on a hunch or a random idea, not unless they have way too much money to throw around. Bryce was a smart man, he would need something concrete, something that would guarantee he gets his money back, plus some extra. Something, in this case, that would for sure benefit the Hell-forged weapons department. What would give him this kind of confidence?

A source inside a development team? Not likely, he probably had access to whatever information he wanted as long as he asks. But if he had a demon working with him he could make a lot of progress. Demons and humans would have very different points of view. A human might approach a problem very differently than I would, and that viewpoint could have its benefits. It certainly helped that demons had an affinity for making Hell-forged weapons. Was Bryce actively working with his demon? Had they been working together for a long time? The past two marks hadn't been...

So if Bryce had his own personal demon, one he had been working with for more than the past few days, what did that mean? It would explain why he was making a lot of money off his research investments. But so would dumb luck or just throwing enough money at a problem.

Actually, the goal right now was guns. All parties were racing towards getting an aligned gun, or aligned ammo. Guns were mostly reliable, only breaking if it was an old one shot model. A revolver was fairly solid when handled properly, so if you could make the bullets aligned you had a reliable weapon that any Hunter would go crazy over.

Was Bryce's demon giving him hints? A better viewpoint? More ideas that only a demon would see? It was possible. It was also possible that this demon possessing Bryce was just very strong and had possessed Bryce recently and this train of logic wasn't going anywhere. Was I over thinking this? I needed more info. Maybe the journals would help me narrow my ideas.

I nodded, shuffling through the drawer for more papers. I read through them quickly, but they were just normal business journals. At least, I thought they were. I didn't know anything about how humans wrote journals for their businesses, so I couldn't say if anything was off. Maybe they were all crazy but I had no way to know.

Would I write a journal the same way? Well, I had never owned a business, so I guess I wouldn't know. How would a business-demon write one, then? If it was me it would be in Script, which kept the words far away from the typical nosy human. I would also use an enchantment to make it harder to read. It would be invisible ink until you put magic into it. I had that spell set up a long time ago, I was sure I could make it again.

I paused, thinking about that. If I thought that, and Nol and Aundor were smart, then maybe they thought that. That meant they might have invisible writing somewhere. Where better than on the flip side of a normal journal? It would be cataloged by day.

I held a paper in my hand in reached down for my magic. I grabbed the smallest pinch of demon magic that I could and pushed it into the paper. As I felt my power move into it I saw writing appear on the back. It looked like it was the same pen as the other side, but a different hand writing. And it was in Script, the language of demons.

“Well, isn't that interesting?” I asked, grinning like an idiot. “I've got magic on my fingertips.”

I took a moment to appreciate my genius before going back to the papers, skimming them for anything useful. It looked like it was mostly the same information. What occurred during business events, but from a different point of view. There was no name, so no way to know exactly who wrote it, but it was in Script, and mentioned the war with angels, but not directly. Definitely a demon.

Any demon could tell you that angels and demons were at war, from some feud so long ago that escalated to an all out war. Not every demon hated every angel, and not every angel hated every demon, but the war was pretty much set in stone. We weren't even supposed to be in the same room.

New fact: A demon was using the same journal as Bryce to write down their own daily routine. I'd love to say this confirmed that Bryce was working with a demon, especially because it did, but this demon might be a business partner and not related to Cam's job. This demon might be someone who works directly under Bryce and does most things with him. Maybe they were his secretary and writing the notes for him. But they were taking invisible notes, too...

“Can we use this?” I asked aloud. “If we weren't here for an assassination then this would be great information to use as blackmail.”

I briefly entertained the idea of threatening to turn these papers over to a local detective. If they found enough of a reason they would confront Bryce about it. He would be out of a job. It was dirty and underhanded, but I could make a lot of money from it.

But that wasn't what I was here for, and the thought didn't sit well with me. Bryce hadn't done anything to prove he deserved that kind of treatment, so he wouldn't be getting it from me. It was so much easier to just think 'he's a human, he deserves it' but that wasn't who I was. I was only doing this job that killed other demons because I was bound to the person running it, otherwise I might actually be on their side. That was a chilling thought.

“Can we memorize this?” I asked aloud.

“Maybe some of it,” I replied slowly. “It's just too much all at once.”

So what do I do? I was in too much of a rush to sit down and really try to memorize it, even if it would be hard. This information might be useful, but I couldn't tell. Cam would be the best person to ask, but there was no point if she didn't have the papers in front of her.

I looked at the stack of papers. It would take hours to copy down the amount written on them, hours I didn't have. But Bryce would notice when all these papers went missing, so taking them wouldn't work.

But how else could I show Cam and Jay all of this? They might get something out of it from the human viewpoint. Bryce might be clued in, but there wasn't a lot to do about that. If we worked fast enough it might not matter.

I didn't have any magic that would help us here. I was used to doing delicate stuff, but this wasn't something I had ever done before, I didn't even know if this could be done. Magic followed rules, and I doubted magically copying almost a hundred papers had easy ones to follow.

I knew the other rules just fine, if you make a giant ball of fire all the heat has to come from somewhere, so it takes heat from the surrounding area. I couldn't duplicate papers because I couldn't make something out of nothing. That would be a miracle, not magic.

“I'll have to take the papers with me,” I decided, sighing. “I can translate to the girls, I'll just leave out all the stuff about the war.”

“How am I going to take all these?” I asked back. “They're not bound in a book.”

I looked around the room. I was hoping for a folder or a basket, something that could hold all the papers. I didn't see anything like that in here. Did Bryce even have one? If he did he must have taken it with him when he left. Speaking of leaving, I should go, I had no idea how much time I had left.

Well, I had a big coat for a reason.


	23. Chapter 23

A few minutes later I was ready. I was standing in front of the door, papers inside a pocket in my coat. I took a few slow, deep breath, and focused my magic. Once I grabbed some and began to shape it I felt that little tug again, but pushed past it. It probably had something to do with using a broken talisman.

The best part of wearing boots, gloves, a hat, and a large coat was that I was mostly covered, and nobody could see my fur. That meant working a glamor was easy, I only had to cover my head while I hid my tail under my coat. So I focused on just my head, imagined a generic human male, and shaped my glamour. Moments later, it was active.

Putting up a glamour, to me, felt like putting a light sheet over my body. I couldn't reposition it or hold it up, though, so it was just a little suffocating. Veils were similar, though if I was trying to be sneaky then that suffocating feeling was terrifying at first. I had gotten used to it.

I checked one last time to make sure the office was as I found it, missing the journal papers, of course. When I was satisfied I walked to the front door, twisted the lock, and stepped outside. I closed the door behind me and checked the lock. The ice piece was still in the lock, so I turned it, then pulled it out. I dropped it on the ground and turned to the opposite direction of the inn and began walking.

If anybody was watching Bryce's house, or me, I didn't want to lead them back towards our hideout, I would lead them around, first. So I ducked into the second alley I found and stepped into the shadows. When I was satisfied that nobody was following me I let my glamour down.

I took a moment to make sure I still had all the papers, then began walking back through town, wishing I had my full staff. I had used it often as a walking stick, pretending I had a limp. My personal favorite trick, it required no magic, and was simple to pull off. Nobody would question somebody's walking stick if they were limping. But I had to move too quickly for that, I needed to get back to the inn so I could meet with Cam and Jay.

I had been walking for maybe a few minutes, ducking down alleys, looping back on myself, pretending to look lost. I had hopefully confused anybody that was following me. When I felt confident in that I decided I could head back to the inn, but stopped. I flicked my ears once. My hat wasn't on my head.

I turned to find a demon I vaguely recognized standing behind me. He had something like a friendly smile on his face, so I guessed he knew me, and saw a near carbon copy of him step up to stand next to him. They wore the right clothes, bland and dull in color, but had dark red skin that was pulled tight over their faces, and black horns on their heads, matching their dark eyes. I recognized them, but I couldn't remember their names or where I knew them from. Had I worked with them before?

“'Aven't seen you in a while, Orion,” The one with the blue shirt said in Script.

“Yeah, been a while, 'asn't it?” The red shirt asked, also in Script.

I didn't need to feign confusion, it was probably all over my face. Why couldn't I remember these two? I knew their faces, but I was searching the shelves of my mind and couldn't find any names or other memories associated with them. They had accents, by the stars, this should be easy!

“'E doesn't remember us,” Red shirt stated.

“Looks like it,” Blue shirt continued.

“'Ow could you forget us, Orion?”

“Yeah, we used to be good friends.”

Good friends? I didn't have many people who would fit into a category like that. Did that mean these two were friends with me when I was younger? Did I grow up with them, or at least around them? Were there twin brothers in my town? I couldn't remember any...

“Come on, stars,” Blue sighed.

“You remember, right?” Red asked.

Stars? Stars above, I did remember!

I had worked with them before. A few years ago they had come to me from their boss, with a pretty sweet job offer. I got paid a fair amount for helping them take down a particularly slippery debtor. I made a plan that caught the guy, got paid, and left.

They were the Corco brothers, but I couldn't remember either of their first names, did I know them at all? They chased after debtors and collected the money they owed. But, I didn't owe them any money, I didn't let myself fall into debt, current situation notwithstanding. Why were they here?

“Course I remember,” I said in Script. “We got that debtor with the birds.” He had a few pets.

“There it is!” Blue said, happily.

“'E does remember!” Red clapping my shoulder, hard.

I tugged nervously at my collar, feeling suffocated, and not in the way I was used to. I needed a way out of this. I had to get to the inn and find Cam and Jay. If I could duck down an alley I could throw up a veil. No way the brothers would let me pull one up now, though.

“To what do I owe the pleasure?” I asked, trying to keep my voice steady.

“Friend of ours said 'e saw a short cat in town, dark fur,” Red started.

“And we only know one of them,” Blue piped in.

“So we came to see. Sure enough, it's you!”

“We got a job, figured you might want in?”

They paired together very well in conversation. I was struggling to keep up with who to look at. Luckily, they had given me a way out. I just had to turn them down gently.

“Sorry,” I said, sighing and trying to act disappointed. “I'm working on a job right now.”

“Anything good?” Blue asked.

“Need 'elp with it?” Red asked.

“No, no,” I found my stride and went with it, “I'm just delivering some information.”

“Oh, we'll come with you,” Red declared.

“You don't mind, right?” Blue asked.

Oh, but I did.

“No need,” I shook my head. “One of those come alone things, you know?”

“Cause we're all demons, 'uh?” Blue asked.

“'Umans don't like us much, do they?” Red asked.

“No, but they pay well,” I said.

We shared a short laugh at that.

“If you don't mind us askin'?” Red started.

“'Ose your client?” Blue finished.

“Human,” I started, thinking of Cam. “Looking to take out some corrupt humans.” I had to keep tracks of all the lies I told, so best to keep them close to the truth.

The two turned to each other and nodded.

“You're not after Bryce?”

“Are you?”

I paused. “What? Why would you think that?” No, that was wrong. I should have asked who that was.

“Saw you walking out of 'is 'ouse.” Red started.

“And you got something in your pocket.”

“And 'is lock 'ad some ice in it.”

“And you do like ice.”

“Well,” I started, realizing I had already backed myself into a corner, “I won't deny what you've said.”

“But you don't do this kinda thing.” Blue stepped forward.

“Remember?” Red tapped his head. “You 'ad us do all the 'ard work.”

“D-did I?” What personality was I going with, again? Did I have one? Did I forget to make a persona for if I ran into anyone? Would that help?

Before I could react Blue swung, elbow connecting hard with my skull. Stars filled my vision as I slammed to the ground, feeling some of the papers fly out of my coat.

I coughed, trying to steady myself, but found it incredibly difficult to breath. I grabbed at my collar and tried to pull it apart, but it was stuck. I hadn't had any issues with this coat before, why was it acting up now?

“Don't suppose you'll just give these to us?” A voice asked from above me.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw one of the brothers lean down and pick up some of the papers. No, no, no! There was valuable information on those papers, if the brothers got hold of it then I would be in serious trouble. Demon writing aside, those papers were stolen from the desk of a well known and legitimate business man. I could be killed for stealing them.

“A bad day, stars,” The same voice said.

I scrambled to get my feet under me, trying to pick up the papers. As I reached out Blue stomped on my right hand. I gasped in pain as his boot slammed down on my fingers. White fire shot up my arm as pain bounced around my whole right side, my vision fading. I swear I could hear my bones crack.

“Conflicting jobs. Nothing personal,” Blue shirt commented.

I tried to think of something to say, but my head was swimming. They're for my client? That wouldn't help, conflicting jobs. And that was the first thing anybody guilty would say. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

My thoughts started racing. Neither of the brothers had anything that looked like a weapon. They probably had magic, but I hadn't made physical contact with them before and couldn't be sure, though neither of them were wearing anything that looked like a talisman. Stars above, I was actually thinking about fighting them. I must still be feeling hotheaded, this wasn't good, I couldn't separate the magic from my own thoughts.

If I couldn't stop my train of logic then I needed to be smart about it. There was no way I could take them on in a fair fight, so I needed to get some kind of advantage. Actually, a hit and run would be the best plan. Since there was only one directly in front of me, what could I do?

“Something to sweep them off their feet,” I whispered, realizing I still had a hand on the larger part of my broken staff.

“Something to say, stars?” Red shirt asked.

Normally, one of the downsides to being a demon was that you couldn't go to any tailor and get custom clothes unless you had a lot of money to spare. That meant secondhand clothes or pre-made and mostly the right size was the way to go. Clothes normally didn't fit right, then. Sleeves were too long, boots too big, stuff like that.

Or in this case, pants just a little too short for the demon wearing them. It wasn't exactly a very honorable or acceptable way to make contact with another demon, but reaching out and pressing part of my arm against this brother's ankle got what I was looking for.

My vision turned black and I saw an image of Red, now knowing his name was Nat, standing in front of a large wooden post. He threw a flurry of punches faster than I could follow, a spot on his chest, behind his shirt, glowing slightly. As the post grew in brightness the punches turned redder, until Nat's fists were covered in flames. Fire magic, not something I wanted to tangle with. If we were both hotheaded he would have the advantage.

I tried not to shudder like I usually did when looking into a demon, instead swinging my left arm at Nat's feet. In my hand was my wooden staff, my favorite tool. My swing was good, and I hit Nat's ankles, He gasped from shock, and maybe pain, as his legs swung out from under him, head slamming hard on the stone.

I looked up just in time to see Blue throwing a punch. I tried to move out of the way, but wasn't fast enough. His fist connected with my right shoulder, more pain shooting through my arm, as I fell to the ground again. I was suddenly reminded of the searing pain in my fingers before realizing I was stuck with my left side. Great, I put myself in a fight with my non-dominant side, exactly where I wanted to me.

“Gauntlet?” I asked, realizing I had been thinking aloud, something I normally only did when I was alone or hyped up on sugar.

The weight in my hand shifted as I dropped my staff and pooled my magic. One of the quicker runes I knew how to write was the one that translated roughly to rock. With the ground underneath me being stone, and there already being my blood from one of who knew how many wounds on the ground, I had everything I needed for some quick and dirty magic.

I quickly wrote the rune on the ground, then pressed my hand on the ground, part of my hand also on my staff. It wasn't pleasant to hear the sound of rock and stone crunching over itself, and it was even less pleasant to have it move over my hand and suddenly make it weigh more than it should, but it was what I had.

I've said before that I don't know how to fight, and the Corco brothers probably knew that. Neither of us had expected me to use this particular type of magic, which gave me a very false sense of strength and confidence. I knew for a fact I didn't know how to throw a proper punch, so when I suddenly swung my entire left side at Blue, arm arcing wide to land my rock covered fist in his stomach, he was probably as surprised as I was.

Blue fell to the ground, coughing and then spitting on the ground, but he was still ready to fight, and he looked angry. I tried to get to my feet, but Blue was faster, and kicked my shoulder again!

Purely on instinct, and probably on accident, I ended up rolling as Blue tackled me. I somehow ended up on my feet, realized my position, and kicked Blue's face while he was on the ground.

I pulled my left arm back and swung my fist as hard as I could at Blue's head. The blow connected, and this time I felt pain shoot up my left arm as the rock just fell apart before I could land the hit, chunks and bits falling to the ground. I winced and pulled my arm back, shaking my hand. That punch hurt!

But Blue seemed to be in more pain than I was. He could take a hit, but two to the head gave him a run for his money. I took advantage of this moment to grab the papers on the ground, fighting through the pain in my arm and hands, and stuffed them in my pockets, order be damned.

Pain exploded through my jaw as another fist connected with it. I stumbled backwards, somehow managed to scramble and stay on my feet, and shook my head, checking through the stars in my eyes to see if I dropped any papers. I hadn't, but Nat was back on his feet, and if Blue had looked mad then Nat looked absolutely pissed.

“You're dead, stars!” He growled, rushing forward for another punch.

That little conductor me in my head caught a little info and pointed it out to the rest of me. I had faked limps in the past, but I could see that Nat had a real one. My swing with my staff earlier must have actually hurt, his right leg wasn't holding his weight as well. And he was going to have to step hard with that foot to land a solid punch. At least, the magic infused thoughts in my head told me that was how he should stand for a good punch.

Nat was barely out of arm's reach when he planted his right foot. He clenched his jaw, fighting through the pain, and his chest glowed, surrounding his fist with fire. For once in my life, I had been ready in a fight, and I was going to make it count.

I stepped to the side, feeling the heat from Nat's fist. I didn't like using magic directly on other people, it didn't sit well with me, but I knew there was a time and place for it, and now was that time and place. Besides, he was trying to kill me, and I was feeling a little hotheaded.

I raised my left hand, my right hand finding the shorter piece of my staff in my pocket, grinned, and grabbed Nat's face.

“Freeze!” I hissed in Script, shoving a lot of power through my hand. I didn't even feel the tug from my broken talisman, as the temperature around us raised, and magic shot out of my hand, wrapping around Nat and flash freezing.

Before I had even finished the word Nat was encased in ice, eyes wide, head turned to face me. I exhaled slowly, hot steam rolling off my tongue and singing the ends of my fur. Making one spot flash freeze meant I had to draw the heat out of the nearby area. I normally didn't freeze anybody in arm's reach, so I would have to remember that and how much that breath hurt.

I suddenly remembered that there was another Corco brother nearby, and that he might not stay on the ground for long. And with the frozen Corco using fire magic, he would thaw out in seconds. I checked to make sure there were no papers on the ground and ran, grabbing my staff throwing up a veil as quickly as I could.


	24. Chapter 24

I fumbled with the key I had been given but managed to slip inside my room at the inn. I took off my coat, throwing it on the bed, and carefully tossed my staff onto my bed, moving into the connected bathroom. The left side of my jaw was starting to swell, and I had long since passed the point where adrenaline made my pain feel dull.

“I really don't know how to fight.” I laughed expressionlessly.

“Jay's trained for that kind of thing.” I tapped my cheek gently. Yeah, I would feel that for a while, the next few days probably. I flexed my left hand a few times. It hurt, but not nearly as much as anything else. “I don't actually know how to fight.”

I bent my thumb a few more times. Stars above that hurt.

“The Corco brothers,” I muttered, trying to order my thoughts. Hired muscle. They know me since we did a job together once. I'm the brains, they're the muscle. Normally they take care of all the fighting, I just hid behind a veil. Not this time, though.

This time I had gotten into a fight with hired muscle, and I had won. Well, no, I hadn't won, I had gotten away. The cost of which was my jaw and my arm hurting for the next day. There was also... something.

My mind was feeling a little fuzzy, I was forgetting something. I had just been in the fight, though, I shouldn't be forgetting anything. Both parts of my staff were with me, I had all the papers, I locked the door, what was I forgetting?

I rubbed my temples, picturing the bookshelf where I keep important information. I turned away from the bookshelf and surveyed the room, finding a desk with paper, pens, and a little light. The room itself was foggy, and it took me a moment to realize why. Magic.

I took a deep breath, and focused on the fog in my mind. I pictured a door in the little room I was standing it, then opened it. With a force of will all the fog in my head was swept out the door, leaving the room clear. Not completely void of fog, but almost clean by comparison.

I went over to the desk and picked up the most recently used pages, finding moving pictures to represent my memories. Getting punched, getting kicked, using my staff, that was all there. Covering my hand in stone and using it as a club, more than a little uncomfortable yet still effective. Dodging Nat's flaming punch and...

Oh.

I had used magic on a demon.

That was one of the things I swore I would never do again. I wasn't supposed to use magic on demons or to deceive demons, that was what humans did to each other, and I wasn't an animal, I was a demon. I had broken one of my only rules.

I stood in silence in the bathroom, staring at my reflection in the mirror. I waited. And waited. And waited. But nothing happened.

I didn't feel anything. I was completely empty.

“I should be angry.” I whispered. “I was angry.”

And I should still be angry. I should have been angry at myself, or disappointed, or sad. I had so few morals or rules that I strictly set for myself, and I had always adhered to them. But I hadn't this time, and I had expected to feel something. Instead, I felt nothing.

I had never felt worse.

I washed my face and left the bathroom, walking back into the main room. I took the pages out of my coat and set them back in order, neatly stacking them on Cam's bed. I then hung my coat, smoothed out a few wrinkles, and sat back down on my bed. I adjusted my staff so it was within reach, then set my head against the pillow. I had made a glamour, been through a fight, used combat magic twice, and then made a veil and sprinted back here. I should be tired.

But I didn't even feel that.


	25. Chapter 25

I had just closed my eyes when the door to the room opened. I groaned, opened my eyes, and sat up. I felt a lot of pain and exhaustion now. I might have gotten a few minutes of sleep, but I felt even worse than when I got back. My head was aching even more than before, and my jaw felt like someone had hit it with a sledgehammer.

Cam and Jay were sitting on their beds, looking over the papers I had brought back. They didn't say anything immediately, so I sat up slowly and braced myself on one arm.

I winced at the pain in my shoulder, but realized it felt a lot better. Sore, and a dull pain instead of sharp, but better nonetheless. Maybe I had been out for an hour instead of a minute, that might be enough time to at least dull some pain.

“Get into a fight?” Jay asked, not looking up from the papers.

“Yes,” I groaned. “Managed to get away, though. Find anything on Bryce?”

“The best time to go after him is at the gentleman's club in the entertainment district.” Jay put air quotes around the word gentlemen. “He takes an extended lunch, so he should be there soon.”

“Gentleman's club?” I couldn't stop myself from laughing a bit. “Now there's a twist.”

“He seems like a mostly good guy,” Cam said, holding up the papers. “He makes money off investments in Hell-forged weapons. I don't see why a guy like this would work with a demon, he's basically an honest man.”

“I don't see anything wrong with these papers,” Jay said, putting her papers down. “Why would you bring these back?”

“There's Script on the other side.” I said, reaching out for one of the papers, which Jay handed me. I grabbed the bigger part of my broken staff and put just a hint of magic into the paper.

“Interesting,” Jay said, watching the new set of text appear. “What's it say?”

“Just notes from a meeting,” I said, glancing over the paper. “Humans showed up, talked about funds, and left.”

“Here's something!” Cam said suddenly. “Bryce gave some money to the Sky-forged research team a while back, told them to look into a certain topic. But the notes don't say what topic, just that it was a total loss.”

“Total loss?” I asked, motioning for Cam to hand me the paper. “That's not an investment term.”

“It's a term for people,” Jay said, grabbing the paper and handing it to me. “When a crew goes out and nobody returns. A total loss.”

The air in the room seemed to grow colder, but I ignored that and kept moving at my own pace. I quickly poured a little magic into the paper and read the back. An investment, right, Sky-forged weapons, a lot of money, way more than I'd seen in one place. Topic; reverse alignment?

“Reverse alignment?” I asked aloud. “What kind of research topic is that?”

“Never heard of it,” Jay said. “Does this help us? If not, we need to go get Bryce. I don't know how long he'll be at the 'club' for.”

“Reverse alignment, reverse alignment...” Cam was muttering. “I know that term. It was... yeah, it was an idea that was on the table for a while.”

“Something good for the business?” Jay asked.

“It was trying to take a Hell-forged weapon or Sky-forged weapon, and then trying to align it to the opposite side. The idea was that it would make a more powerful weapon. You can't align the same thing twice, it just doesn't take, so you would try to reverse align it first.”

“That makes some sort of sense.” I rubbed the back of my head. I wasn't an expert in the field of aligned weapons, but I could see the idea. “Did it make any returns?”

“No,” Cam said quietly. “It got an entire research team killed.”

I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Stars above, that was heavy. At least, that was the routine action and thought I went through every time humans talked about death, and a demon died prematurely. I wasn't feeling very emotional, though, and we had work to do.

“So, what do we do with this?” I asked almost immediately, holding up the paper. “It's your business, Cam.”

“I...” Cam started. “I don't know. I mean, if it was just a mistake that he funded, I can't hold that against him. He didn't do it on purpose.”

“So we find out,” Jay said, standing up. “We confront Bryce and interrogate him. If it was a mistake, that's that. If not...”

“It's possible Bryce doesn't know,” I said. “He might remember he gave information, but not what.”

“Possession?” Jay asked, folding her arms. “I remember you moving me and talking through me.”

“But those were consensual.” I pointed out, deciding not to mention that Jay was very strong willed, I didn't want to inflate her LeMonte ego. “You allowed me to possess you, and you didn't try to stop me from what I did. If Bryce is being possessed forcefully then it's possible that anything he's being forced to do is just a vague memory.”

“Blackouts?” Cam asked. “Those are real? People in court say they have them all the time and blame demons.”

“It's possible,” I said, “but I doubt it happens as often as humans say it does. It really only happens when a really powerful demon is completely overwhelming a host.”

“So, not you?” Jay smirked.

Cam, thankfully, ignored her. “So we need to find out if Bryce knows or not.”

“And after?” Jay asked.

Cam bit her lip. “If he doesn't know, then that's that. If he does...”

Cam didn't say anything for a minute. Here eyes were darting back and forth, she was twirling her hair, and still biting her lip. She looked like she was in the middle of a moral dilemma.

“I... I don't know.” Cam said finally. “This isn't what I was expecting. I just wanted to get rid of any demons in the business, I didn't want to deal with all of this. This was supposed to be like a game, it was fun at first, but this is so much...”

Any of this? Cam had contracted a LeMonte and a Tolrand to deal with demons in the Forgery Trade. There wasn't going to be anything simple or clean about this.

“We could turn him over,” I suggested after a minute of silence. “There's, uh, officials in this city, right?”

“Yeah.” Cam nodded slowly. “Yeah, that should work. We can give him to the police, they can decide what to do with him.”

“And the papers?” Jay asked.

“I'll bring them to my father.” Cam stood and started gathering the papers. “I can tell him what we figured out. Jay, come with me?”

“Yeah.” Jay's voice turned soft. “Of course.”

I waited a moment, then coughed.

“Sorry,” I said, “but we have a short time to work, right?”

Jay sighed and glared at me. “What's the quickest trick you can do with no prep?”

I paused, not knowing the human term. “Uh, walk by someone and quickly steal something small.”

“Okay, we'll adapt that.”

I raised an eyebrow. That was vague.

“Please explain,” I said.

“We catch Bryce on his way to the club. You stumble into him, make contact, and signal if he's a demon or not. Since you're just passing by Bryce shouldn't get aggressive. If he does, I move in.”

“Yes, one thing you're forgetting about.”

“What?” Jay folded her arms, glare intensifying.

“That plan puts me in danger. Again. Speak with a guy under a glamour? I can do that. I'm used to it. Search a guy's house when he's not there? No problem, I have veils, but we saw this with Lab, walking up to the guy and saying 'Hey, I'm a demon, and I know you are, too' is out of the question. No matter how drunk a demon is we just don't do that.”

“You won't do it?” Jay asked. “You said I was leading this.”

“You are,” I confirmed, staring Jay in the eyes, “but I told you I can't be in the front, and you're asking me to do just that.”

Jay and I stared each other down. I wasn't going to back down on this. As I was now I was beaten enough, and I wasn't in the mood to argue. I didn't belong in the front lines, and if Jay planned on putting me there then we would have a problem. I told her when I said she was leading that I couldn't be in the front, and I would remind her as often as I had to.

And now that I thought about it, if she ordered me to do something like this, it would be a direct conflict with my best interest: living. I wasn't at the point where she could order me to do something like that, so if she tried, I could just leave. Of course, she might kill me if I tried. There wasn't a simple solution to this.

“How about we compromise?” Cam suggested. “Didn't you say you would advise us if we needed it?”

“Yes,” I sighed, “I did.” Maybe I was being childish. I should have offered advise instead of rushing into a fight. Some tactician I was.

“So, what's your advice?” Cam asked.

“Possession,” I said simply, “Same plan, but Jay bumps into Bryce and makes contact while I'm possessing her.”

“Fine.” Jay said. “I'm going with Cam to her father. You head to the club, we'll meet you there.”


	26. Chapter 26

I took a moment to show Jay the words in Script that translated to the topic, and listened to her butcher the pronunciation, before we left. Cam and Jay went one way, I went the other. Cam and Jay would stop by Cam's house and give the papers to her father. I would go to the 'entertainment' district, which probably wasn't an official district, and wait near the gentleman's club. I thought about this a few more times while I walked, there was no trolly stop close enough to take it.

Jay's plan had been modified to keep me out of harms way while still allowing her to get the information, and conflict, she wanted. When she came to the club I would possess her, and we could wait for Bryce. I would be safe, Jay would get her demon, everybody was happy.

Mostly.

I wasn't very happy with taking out this demon. I didn't approve of their methods to inhibit Sky-forged research, it was dirty and underhanded, costing a lot of innocent lives. At the same time, I couldn't be upset with them for the improvements made to Hell-forged weapons. I didn't want to hate them, and I wasn't sure I did. I knew they had to be taken down if I wanted to continue living, but my resolve was starting to fade.

I suddenly looked up and wondered where I was. I had been walking, and I had a clear goal in mind. The club Jay had mentioned. I knew how to get there, I had been given instructions. I wasn't lost, then. All I had to do was take a right at the intersection ahead and I would be...

I stopped. A dead end.

Yes, I was lost.

This could be problematic. Arul was huge, I could get lost and wander for hours, even days. It was almost as bad as Lab's prison if I got lost. At least with Lab I could follow the right hand rule. I might walk in a circle for hours if I tried that here.

But it was better than nothing. If I found somebody I could put up a glamour and ask for directions. Not exactly smooth, but it was better than being lost.

Okay, time to occupy my mind. I didn't really want my mind to wander, so I needed to focus on something. What to focus on? Nothing I had done recently, nothing I would be doing soon, nobody I had met recently...

Did I have any plans from before I was bound? Did I have any grand scheme I was working on, any plans, or goals? Now that I stopped to think about it, I don't think I did. I had just been wandering, hadn't I?

“You should open up a bakery,” I suggested.

“Where did that idea come from?” I asked back.

“I want another garlic roll,” I replied.

That garlic roll had been pretty good...

Then I would open up a bakery. Who would come to visit? Scarlet might, though I got the impression it would be for more than just food. She had said she was interested in me, even if I was something of a screw up. A bakery could be nice, something stable, reliable, a good job without a lot of trouble. I could make all the garlic rolls I wanted.

“Wouldn't that be something?” I asked. “Orion's bakery. Who would be the chef? You?”

“I can't cook,” I half laughed back, “I would need to get someone to teach me.”

Well, that wasn't out of the question. Humans only lived for so long, I would live much much longer. I could master human cooking in the same amount of time, maybe shorter, and have a lot longer to benefit from it. Maybe I could even throw in a few traditional demon dishes. Maybe opening a bakery was a smart idea after all.

I glanced around. I hadn't gotten any less lost, but I had found a person. It was a tall man, though he seemed a little bland. Sandy brown hair, dull gray eyes with bags under them, a small face. He had broad shoulders, though, and looked fit. Maybe he did a lot of physical labor. He was carrying around a large backpack and a lantern. He looked familiar, but I couldn't place how. Maybe I had seen him in the bar the other night?

I took a deep breath, thinking of the right attitude for this. Hopelessly cheerful? Should work. I grabbed the brim of my hat and cast a small glamour, just over my head, and lifted the back of my jacket to tuck my tail into. Same generic human face as earlier.

“Excuse me!” I called out to the man, raising my left hand and walking over. “Can you help me?”

The man turned as I approached. His face was bland, too. Such a blank expression. Reminded me of Jay whenever I spoke to her. I probably looked that way whenever I spoke, too.

“I'm a little lost,” I continued, throwing in a small laugh. “Can you help me?”

“I'm lost, too.” He said, his voice about as low as I was expecting, though a lot smoother.

Great, he was lost, too. Now what was I supposed to do? Back to wandering, I guess.

“But it looks like I'm lucky.” He continued. I glanced up at him, he was smiling. Happy to find camaraderie in another lost soul, maybe?

I knew something was wrong when my glamour just broke. I hadn't dispelled it, which instantly spelled danger. Another thing that spelled danger was that my fur suddenly stood on end and my tail went rigid. The last thing that spelled danger was jumping backwards because I react to fear with cowardice, and seeing a staff made entirely of Sky-forged metal with sharp ends piercing the ground where I had been just a moment before.

A shiver ran down my spine, my whiskers twitched, and I felt adrenaline kicking in. This man was a hunter, and I wanted to be as far away from him as possible.

I spun around, blindly choosing a direction and running. I didn't risk glancing behind me, I just ran. I had turned maybe two corners when I ran face first into someone. My head collided with theirs, and for the umpteenth time today I found myself flat on the ground. Now my head hurt all over, not just in specific spots.

“Orion?” A familiar voice asked.

My eyes shot open.

“Cam! Jay!” I cried out, scrambling to my feet. “Hunter!”

I jumped behind Jay and hid in the darkness as the man from before rounded the corner. I took a quick moment to feel for both parts of my staff and make sure I was hidden. There was no shame in this, Jay was much more capable of handling a generic hunter than I was. I threw up the quickest veil I could manage as they began talking.

“Grant?” Jay asked.

“Jade?” The man, Grant, paused, raising his lantern to get a better look, even though it was the middle of the day.

“What are you doing here?” Jay asked.

“Hunting demons. What are you doing here?” Grant asked back.

“My Trial.” Jay put her hands on her hips.

“So it's true!” He smiled, grabbing Jay and embracing her with one arm. “I had expected you to try and worm your way out of it. I'm so proud of you.”

“Yeah, whatever.” Jay pushed away from Grant, blushing. She seemed... happy. It was weird.

“How far along are you?” Grant asked, leaning on his staff, the sharp ends suddenly hidden.

“Hunting my third right now,” Jay replied, “but you know the rules. I'm not supposed to have any contact with the family while I'm on my Trial.”

“It was an accident,” Grant laughed. “How's this? I won't tell if you won't.”

Jay paused. “Okay, okay.”

Grant laughed again. “Good. Now, did you see a demon run by here? Gray coat, cat ears?”

“Not one of mine,” Jay replied, folding her arms, “and I don't have time to chase them, either, mine is waiting.”

“Getting them to come to you?” Grant asked. “I want to hear all about this when it's over. For now, though, I need to chase that demon. Cam.”

“Grant.” Cam nodded, rubbing her forehead. I guess I had bumped into her.

Grant moved around Cam and Jay, peering down the road they had come from.

“One more thing, before I go,” Grant started.

He whirled around, thrusting his staff at my feet, embedding it in the stone and breaking my veil. I jumped back and tried to put as much distance between us as I could.

“If he's not on your list, he's on mine,” Grant sneered.

“I-I-I'll get the police!” I stammered, trying to think of something to say as I put distance between myself and who I could only assume was the elder LeMonte. “I'm a citizen.”

“You're my target.” Grant raised his staff and set it over his shoulders. “That's all that matters.”

I tried to leap back as Grant swung his staff, but found my back against a wall. I tried dashing to the side instead, but my legs and I weren't on the same page and I mostly stumbled to one side. I heard the sound of fabric tearing, then felt a splash of unimaginable pain cut across my left arm. I fell to the ground, suddenly unable to move. I couldn't hear anything other than my head roaring with pain, louder than that ringing from the first night.

I could tell that my left arm had been cut. I had never been cut with a Sky-forged weapon before, I had no idea it would hurt this much. It felt like my entire arm had split open, like the bone was exposed and someone was grabbing at the skin around it and trying to rip it off by hand. I could feel blood seeping out of it, matting down my fur and spilling out onto the ground. If this had been just one, brief cut, how had the other demons felt when Jay had stabbed them and twisted the blade?

I was briefly aware of someone standing over me. I couldn't see who, my vision was starting to fade and I could feel myself breathing quickly, way too fast. I might pass out if it continued.

And then I heard a very clear sound. It was metal clashing on metal, with a much lower pitch than normal, almost like a gong ringing out. My vision didn't clear, but I managed to look up.

“Saving a demon?” Grant asked from what felt like miles away, pulling his staff back towards him, casually laying it over his shoulders. “I didn't expect that.”

“He's with me,” Jay said defiantly, lowering a Hell-forged dagger. “He's an informant. You'll leave him alone.”

“I'm going to kill him,” Grant corrected simply, his face and voice moving back to their bland versions, “and if you want to get your target today, you'd better let me do it quickly.”

Jay took a deep breath, changing her stance. Her weight shifted, and she stood on the balls of her feet. She looked ready to dash in any direction. Was she planning to fight Grant?

“Ha!” Grant laughed. “You've never beat me in a sparing match, and now you think a few days of assassinations will make you strong enough?”

The joy and mirth vanished from Grant's face, replaced with determination. He took the bag on his shoulder and tossed it towards Cam. She grabbed it out of the air, gently setting it on the ground. Grant then shifted his weight, turning slightly, his lantern on the ground, staff over both shoulders, leaning towards Jay.

“Cam.” Jay said. “Get Orion.”

“Right.” Cam rushed over to me, lifted me up, and brought me over towards Grant's bag.

I sighed with relief. I was safe, but the tension was still there. Cam pulled out bandages from her own bag and began working on my arm. I glanced down at it. I had been right, the bone was exposed, and it was bleeding heavily. I reached my right hand over and held my skin together while Cam bandaged it.

“You're light,” Cam said.

“Lucky me,” I said tonelessly, staring at my arm. I didn't like seeing bone. I didn't like seeing all this blood on my hand and arm. I didn't like seeing such a clean and precise cut, no tool should make a cut with such a clean edge to it.

I looked down, vaguely realizing at some point that I still had my staff in my right hand. I let it fall to the ground as Cam finished binding my arm, it wouldn't be any help right now. I felt so tired, but when I dropped my head to try and sleep I found myself staring at the two LeMontes.

Jay and Grant were staring each other down. Neither one was moving, I swear they weren't even breathing. Without warning Grant moved, adjusting his right arm, letting go of the staff with his left, and flinging it over his shoulder, grabbing it at the last second to control where it swung.

Jay reacted just as fast, whispering something and holding her dagger up while sliding to the side. The staff missed, connecting and sliding along the dagger. Metal scrapped against metal, and sparks began to fly, that same heavy sound ringing out again.

But Jay wasn't done. In the same motion she shifted her weight, repositioned her legs, spun the knife in her hand, and thrust it towards Grant' shoulder.

Grant flicked his wrist, and his staff moved on its own. It had been about to hit the ground but stopped, twisting and hitting Jay's wrist, knocking her dagger into the air. It spun and landed, clattering to the ground.

Jay jumped back, sliding a few feet, and shook out her wrist. Her eyes darted from her dagger to Grant, then back to her dagger. Her eyes focused on Grant and she rushed him, no weapon in hand. Grant must not have been expecting this, he reacted slowly.

Jay activated her magic, I could feel it being thrown into the air, and suddenly stood in front of Grant, fist raised. She landed a solid hit, knocking Grant back as he clutched at his jaw. When he stood up he spat blood, but Jay wasn't in front of him any more, she had moved to retrieve her Hell-forged dagger.

“Nice punch,” Grant said, grabbing one end of his staff with both hands and swinging it like a club at Jay's feet.

Jay jumped backwards and to the side, ending in a roll.

“Not that hard,” Jay replied, grinning.

Grant grinned, too, and that's when I realized I wasn't watching two hunters fight. I was watching two LeMontes fight, and they were both enjoying it way more than I could understand.

Grant kicked at the lantern by his feet. A panel on the front opened, revealing a flame burning with no oil or wick. With a jerk of his head the flame jumped out of the lantern, flying towards Jay. She stepped to the side, easily avoiding the fire.

The fire spread out, trapping Jay in a small circle with Grant. The fire was incredibly still, licking hungrily at the sky, but didn't move towards any of the nearby flammable buildings, or me. Grant must have been very disciplined to keep this tight control over fire, especially when he had to feed it magic to keep it burning.

Jay's grin faded, and Grant's grew. Jay hadn't been expecting this, or she had but had been hoping to avoid it, I couldn't tell, but she didn't let that deter her. She shifted her weight and lunged towards Grant, delivering a series of fast blows at Grant's head, shoulders, and chest, but Grant blocked each one of them.

“You're slow!” He growled, thrusting his staff forward and forcing Jay back several feet. She stopped just short of the flames, which leaned towards her hungrily. “You've got the cloak, use it!”

Jay pulled out a second knife, this one regular, and changed her stance. I could feel from here that she was pooling her magic into her cloak. It was sloppy, she didn't have a tight control on it. So much of her magic was leaking out.

Jay didn't notice or didn't care. She launched herself towards Grant, much quicker than before, definitely using magic to speed herself up. She threw twice as many attacks in the same span of time, and each time Grant blocked there was the sound of a heavy gong, a high pitched screech, and sparks flying in all direction. Grant managed to block every attack, but this time he didn't find room to counter.

Jay never got to land a hit, though. With a high pitched screech her normal dagger broke, snapping clean in half. Grant took advantage of Jay's shock, took a deep breath, and actually spat fire at Jay.

Jay reacted quickly, grabbing one end of her cloak and throwing it towards Grant, spinning while she did. She scrambled away in what I could only assume was a sloppy movement, even though it was more graceful than anything I could pull off, but Grant wasn't going to let her go that easily. He shut his mouth and swung his staff, knocking Jay's Hell-forged dagger out of her hands and out of the ring of fire, towards me and Cam.

Without waiting to catch her breath Jay reached for her belt, grabbing a Sky-forged dagger. I knew off hand that this presented a few problems. A normal blade could hold its own against a copy of itself, but aligned weapons would break them, they just weren't as strong. Grant was using a Sky-forged weapon, which explains Jay using a Hell-forged weapon to counter it. It would hold up in strength without resonance.

Two Sky-forged weapons colliding, as well as with two Hell-forged weapons, would resonate when they made contact. The resonance itself was harmless, and acted more like an invisible force that would try to push away the two blades so they didn't touch, but there was a lot of force behind it.

Jay didn't care. She grabbed her Sky-forged dagger and lunged at Grant. She stepped with her right foot, swinging, feinted, and redirected her strike to come from the left.

Grant moved his staff and blocked the attack. As the weapons collided Jay released a fair amount of magic energy. The sound the two weapons made when they collided was unlike anything I've ever heard. More intense than metal screeching against metal, this was sharper, louder, and made my skin crawl. The air seemed to hum as the two weapons collided, blue ribbons of light cascading out in place of sparks.

Jay rode this energy and moved to her left, but Grant was ready. Shifting his grip, he jabbed his staff towards Jay in quick, repeated motions. Jay dodged each one, using her dagger to deflect the staff when it got too close, more ribbons of light shining out from contact. She let out more magic every time the blades connected.

“You won't stop bleeding,” Cam said urgently, shaking my shoulder.

I turned away from the fight, looking at my arm. She was right, I hadn't stopped bleeding. Is that why I felt so lightheaded? I was starting to get a headache. I hadn't lost this much blood and been conscious for it before.

“Right.” I said slowly, moving my right hand to put pressure on my left arm. My headache grew worse, and I fell back against Cam, unable to hold myself up any more.

“Needs time...” I mumbled, dropping my arm as Cam attempted to re-bandage it. Same as Jay, just throw more bandages on it. But I wanted to run when I heard that same high pitched screech and a Sky-forged dagger buried itself in the ground next to my feet.

I looked up in horror. Jay had been hit by Grant again, her blade had flown through the air and nearly stabbed my leg. The only weapon Jay had left now was her sword, but she didn't have it, where was it?

“It's over.” Grant said, panting. “You're out of weapons, and outclassed.”

Jay stood up straight and exhaled slowly. Then she reached for where her sword normally was, grabbing onto something invisible. She reached out a little more and grabbed the scabbard to her sword, holding it aloft.

“A veil,” Cam said, staring.

“I taught her that,” I realized in horror. I had taught an assassin the skill to hide her most powerful weapon, and she had mastered it. I had no idea it was there, and from the sound of it, neither had Cam.

“There's still one,” Jay said slowly, drawing her sword.

“Regicide!” Grant threw his head back and laughed. “Where did you get that?”

“Seline gave it to me,” Jay said calmly. “And told me she expected great things from me.”

Grant glared, suddenly taking Jay very seriously. He shifted his weight and held his staff aloft, ready to strike or defend. I expected Jay to change positions as well, but she didn't. She held her sword in one hand, swinging the scabbard off, revealing nothing but the handle to her sword. There was no blade.

“This sword is meant to kill demons,” Jay started, “but it won't take me more than one hit to end you.”

“You'll never land it,” Grant sneered. “You don't have enough power to keep the blade out long enough.”

“I don't need a lot of magic,” Jay said calmly, “I just need to cheat.”

Jay's cloak shone like the night sky, filled with stars. All the power she had been releasing when fighting Grant shuddered, rushing into her cloak. Without a sound, she vanished.

I had made veils before, and I had made good ones when I was prepared, but I had never encountered one this good. If you focused really hard where you knew somebody was you could make out the slightest bit of distortion, but that didn't happen here. Jay was completely invisible, I couldn't see her at all, and I had been focused, albeit light headed. Stars above, I had taught her my style of veil and she had perfected it into full invisibility, I couldn't see a thing.

“I can't see her,” Cam whispered.

“I didn't teach her this,” I replied, just as quietly.

Without warning Grant jerked to one side and fell to the ground, dropping his staff. He gasped, grabbing at his shoulder. Jay appeared, her veil gone, and placed her knee on Grant' back, her sword hilt up against his shoulder. Jay spun the hilt in her hand and, with a quiet word, poured magic into it. The blade suddenly appeared, shining a brilliant blue, and embedding itself into the ground inches away from Grant's face.

“The demon is yours,” Grant gasped.

“I won't tell if you won't,” Jay said, standing up and grabbing the scabbard, then sheathing the sword, bright light vanishing.

I watched as Jay offered a hand, which Grant accepted, and helped her brother stand. They had really gone at it, stars above Jay had almost stabbed him with her sword, but he was standing with barely any problems. LeMontes are terrifying.

“You've gotten stronger,” Grant sighed, gesturing to the wall of fire. It shrunk back down into a single flame and jumped into his lantern, which closed itself quickly. “I wasn't expecting a veil.”

Jay said nothing.

“The demon is yours,” Grant rolled his good shoulder, gingerly touching his injured one, “but if you plan on bringing a pet home you should be prepared to protect it from predators.”

Grant walked to Cam and looked at his bag. He leaned down slowly and picked it up, throwing it over his good shoulder. “Cam.”

“Grant.” Cam nodded.

“I'll be in touch,” Grant called to Jay, then, turning to me, “and next time I won't be as nice.”

He grabbed his staff and walked off. Once he was out of sight Jay sighed and fell to the ground. I didn't complain as Cam stood up, gently setting my head on the ground, and rushed over to Jay.

“We need to hit Bryce today!” Jay said, forcing herself to her feet and walking over to me.

“You should really take a few minutes.” Cam was pleading. “Catch your breath.”

“I'm fine,” Jay repeated, “it's just shock. I didn't expect to use that much magic at once.”

“Good veil,” I said as Jay reached out a hand, I took it, and helped me stand. I swayed, trying to find my balance. Cam helped me stand.

“I put a lot of magic into it,” Jay said. “Let's move.”

“Shouldn't you rest?” I asked. If Jay took a break so would I. “That was a lot of magic all at once.”

“I'm fine.” Jay turned away.

“Let's get Bryce in an hour.” I suggested. “We know where he lives.”

“We can't,” Cam said to me, biting her lip nervously. “My father is going to confront Bryce right now. If he gets back to his office we won't be able to get to him.”

“We're doing this now!” Jay declared, glaring at me.

I would have flinched if I had the energy. I was tired, and I had a headache, and I felt like I hadn't eaten in days. I really needed a break, even for just a couple minutes. I had no choice, though. Jay had ordered it, we're doing it now.

Jay started walking towards the gentleman's club. I had to limp after her.


	27. Chapter 27

The gentleman's club was a theater during the day and at evening, but also served its other purpose the entire day thanks to a few secret rooms that were, according to Cam, very easy to access. The building had a fair amount of empty space around it, filled with grass, and it wasn't out of the ordinary for humans to sit around and enjoy the nice weather during the day. If it was sunny, like it had been until storm clouds started to roll in a few minutes ago, you could rest in the shade of the trees.

I sat back to back with Jay, possessing her, applying pressure to my forehead. Next to Jay was Cam, who was sitting in a classic meditation pose. She was controlling her spider, which left her body vulnerable. We sat on guard while Cam looked around inside of the gentleman's club to find Bryce. Well, Jay sat on guard, I just sat.

“It's too dark...” Cam whispered quietly.

“Did we miss him?” Jay asked quickly.

“We have his location,” I said. “I doubt demons are allowed in. If Bryce has a demon they'll be possessing him.”

“But is he in there?” Jay asked Cam.

“Looking...” Cam whispered back.

A few minutes passed.

“This is taking too long,” Jay said in frustration, standing up.

“It's a big place,” I said as I slowly fell back, “we'd see if he left.”

Jay started tapping her foot angrily. Alright...

“What's your plan for getting the demon out of Bryce, Orion?” I asked aloud. “Well, Jay, thanks for asking, I had been thinking about this for a while!”

I waited for a response, but got nothing. Not even an idle thought. Was Jay completely ignoring me?

“Rejection.” I continued. “If the possession is willing and the host and demon are completely out of sync the demon is rejected, and they get thrown out. We're pretty close to that point, you know.”

Still no thoughts, but Jay had stopped tapping her foot. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly, but she didn't seem any calmer when she spoke.

“How do we do that?”

“Confront Bryce,” I suggested. “Tell him what the demon did. If Bryce is innocent he'll probably throw the demon out right then and there.”

“And if he's not innocent?” Jay asked.

I shrugged. “I don't know, you're the assassin.”

“I'm not killing a human.” Jay turned to face me.

“Why not?” I asked, still on my back, looking up at Jay. “You're fine killing a demon if they've done something wrong. What makes a human different? You're just doing your job.'” I put air quotes around job.

“They're human!” Jay said. “I have no reason to kill them.”

“And I have no reason to kill demons, you know.” I moved my hands and stared Jay in the eyes. They looked faded, less vibrant. Had they always been gray? “You're a hunter, did you expect this to be easy?”

Jay opened her mouth to speak, but stopped. I could feel her thoughts racing. Maybe she didn't completely understand, but she got that I was agreeing to help kill demons when I would rather do anything else.

Actually, I felt something else, too. It wasn't quite solid, but it felt something like a barrier around Jay. Almost like a cloud of fog, making it harder to see her, but not literally.

Jay sat down next to me and quietly asked. “I can feel... your thoughts? They're fast, but... is that how you've felt this whole time?”

“Lab was incredibly talented,” I told Jay. “I hadn't met him before, but I looked up to him. If I had ever met him alone I might have been brave enough to ask for lessons or advice. That's off the table now, though. Kill your heroes, humans say that, right?”

“I didn't know you could feel this way,” Jay said slowly, her voice distant.

“What, that I had emotions?” I put my hands back on my head, the pressure felt nice. “What have I shown you? Anger, fear, worry, maybe a little joy and embarrassment?”

“I... I always thought that you... that your...” Jay struggled for the right words. “I thought you were emotionless. Heartless.”

“Some of us, yes,” I sighed, thinking about how bad a Tolrand I was just for having emotions, “but humans, too.”

Jay paused. “But what these demons are doing is wrong.”

And we were back. I guess having a heart to heart with a LeMonte was impossible.

“That's not my place to decide,” I said, “but they're the price we're paying for freedom.”

Cam shifted, both Jay and I turned to face her.

“Is he in there?” Jay asked, anxious.

“Yeah,” Cam took a few steadying breaths. “There's a storage room near the back of the building. Some of the... uh...” Cam's face turned red while she searched for the right word.

“Actors,” I suggested, Jay repeating the word for me.

“Actors,” Cam repeated. “They uh... I think they take their breaks in that room. It's empty right now, I left the window open. You can get in from there.”

“You're not coming with us?” Jay asked.

Cam shook her head. “I'm just a kid, Jay. I can probably make some kind of excuse to myself about the last two days, those were mostly in defense, and for saving Orion. But that fight with Grant... I'm not cut out for this kind of thing, I'm not meant for what you do. Fighting that hellhound was like a game, but then Orion got really hurt, and if Bryce really got those people killed... I didn't want to know that...”

Cam looked down at her hands. She had wiped off most of my blood, but there was still some dark violet staining them. I had even managed to bleed on her clothes. It was hard to ignore that.

Jay nodded. I understood what Cam was saying. I wouldn't be sleeping well for a while. I remembered in detail the faces of the first two demons we took out, and Grant attacking me hadn't done much to help, but I was forced to be here. I was bound to Jay.

Cam wasn't. When I thought back to it, Cam had told me she was just a kid. Even by human standards, she was a child. Maybe hunting demons sounded like a fun weekend, something like a game. Maybe fighting the hellhound had been a game, maybe rescuing me had been one, but she hadn't looked so good right after Jay took out Lab. Maybe Cam just wasn't cut out for the heavy stuff. Maybe her spider was her way of staying on the sidelines but still trying to help.

“Where is he?” Jay asked.

“Third room on the right of storage,” Cam replied, shifting uncomfortably. “Good luck.”

“Thanks,” Jay said, standing up. I stood with her and walked next to her as she walked around the building. It was made of dull gray stone but mostly wood, with a few places having stone accents.

Jay walked around to the back of the building. There was indeed an open window, but it was on the second floor, several feet off the ground. Jay didn't hesitate. She looked around and began walking to the nearest tree. She jumped into the crook of a few low branches and flung herself up, crawling over the longest reaching branch that would hold her weight.

Jay shifted her weight, threw her arms forward, and vaulted through the air towards the window. She grabbed the sill with room to spare and hoisted herself through the window. In my not-quite-real state I made the jump easily, pulling myself up with no effort whatsoever.

I watched as Jay silently moved over to the nearest door in the dark room, peaking through the keyhole. From where I was I could hear live music, muffled by several layers of wood and stone, but it was there. There would likely be a lot of humans in this building, and Jay didn't look like she belonged, age aside.

Satisfied, Jay opened the door and slipped through, letting it shut quietly behind her. Moving quickly, she ran low to the ground, footsteps silent on the plush carpet. At the third door she leaned down and peaked through the keyhole. I kept watch, nobody was around.

I had to admire how professional Jay was when it came to something like this. She had quickly made a decision on how to get through the window, and was taking precautions on how to handle each situation. She might just be a young girl, but as a LeMonte she seemed like a pro, now more than ever.

As if she heard my thoughts Jay stood up, put up her hood, leaned back, and kicked the door, sending it careening inwards. I had seen grown human men kick doors and not get them down the fifth try, but Jay had just kicked this one down in one go.

“That's one way to make an entrance,” I groaned, my headache acting up.

Bryce, a somewhat old human dressed in formal clothes, was sitting on a large plush chair. Most of his clothes were either open, or lying on the floor. Sitting in his lap was a human woman. Both were staring in shock and horror at Jay, who had kicked a door now stood pointing her Sky-forged dagger at Bryce.

Jay walked towards Bryce. “Out,” she growled to the woman.

The woman responded instantly, grabbing what clothes she could and running out of the room. Before she had left Jay had lifted her knife and brought it down towards Bryce.

“What are you doing?” I screamed, extending my will and running towards Jay, grabbing her arm and trying to push it away from Bryce, only managing to stop it. “I told you not to kill anyone while I'm possessing you!”

“Do you remember telling the Sky-forged researches to look into reverse alignment?” Jay snarled. “You got the entire team killed!”

Bryce's eyes flickered to the side. I could only assume he was communicating with his demon, or maybe he was just having a panic attack. Did Jay look like that when she spoke to me? The shock on Bryce's face was clear, though. He didn't remember, he was probably just as confused as everyone else. Or he was shocked at Jay standing over him with a knife.

“Give me the demon and you get a head start.” Jay continued, the color in her eyes turning completely gray. “You're not innocent in this.”

“Stars above what is wrong with you, Jay?” I shouted. “I'm still part of you and I am not going to let you kill anyone!”

“I...I...” Bryce stammered.

Jay's will slammed down on me like a lead weight, heavier than I would have expected from a girl her age. I gasped, but redoubled my efforts. I tried to push Jay's arm away, my headache suddenly screaming at me.

“Rejection, Jay!” I cried out. “Just get the demon out.”

“Out!” Jay shouted.

I felt an invisible hand grab me and lift me by my collar. I was thrown up and out of Jay's shadow, landing on my back and slamming hard on the ground. Jay had thrown me out.

At the same time, though, Jay had slammed her knife into Bryce's leg. He screamed in pain, and then his demon fell out of his shadow.

Everybody moved at once. Jay removed her dagger from Bryce's leg and lunged at the demon. The demon jumped to his feet and dodged to the side, reaching to the chair and tearing off one of the legs. Bryce slumped in this chair as it fell to the ground. I grabbed Bryce with my right hand and dragged him to the edge of the room, tipped over a table, and hid behind it.

“Stars above!” I swore, leaning my back against the table, breathing heavily. “I didn't sign up for this.”

I put my hands to my head, trying to think, but all I could hear was the roaring of my blood and my own heartbeat. My vision began fading, and my breathing sped up. Trying to carry a human while missing who knows how much blood was a terrible idea.

I was running mostly on instinct here. I grabbed my staff, it was conveniently rolling towards me, with one hand, my shadow with the other, and threw it at the table, sinking down and hiding in darkness.

The use of magic sent a sharp pain through my head, then instantly dulled, my headache suddenly become background noise. It was a little surprising that I had managed to grab my shadow like that and work it so quickly, I must have a natural talent for it. For now, though I needed to focus on not dieing.

“W-what?” Bryce asked. He had black hair and dull blue eyes. Did I have info on him? Did Cam give me anything I could use on him? I couldn't remember.

“Give me a minute.” I said, trying to slow my breathing. Deep breaths, Orion, deep breaths. My mind might suddenly be working again, but my body was trying to catch up and calm down.

I managed to slow my breathing a little and focus. I heard the sounds of metal striking metal, and grunting as Jay and the demon went at each other. Did he have a sword now? Did he take one of Jay's weapons?

There was a snarling sound, eerily similar to what I imagined a hellhound circling its prey would sound like. I should have been more concerned with that, but Jay had her sword, she would handle it.

“LeMonte,” I said to Bryce. “Hired to get your demon.”

“B-but you're a demon!” Bryce pointed at me. “You've got cat ears!”

“Always the ears,” I muttered. “I'm not here by choice, and if I was you, I'd get out of here. This LeMonte isn't exactly patient.”

“Right,” Bryce said slowly, “I should go.”

“Yes, and do me a favor, don't tell anyone about this. I doubt they'll believe you, anyway.”

Bryce didn't stick around to hear me finish. He looked over the table, decided it was time to go, and ran through the open doorway. I figured he would run downstairs and ask for help. We had maybe two minutes before someone would come running up here, and that was generous.

“Two minutes!” I called out from behind the table, rubbing my head. Stars above I needed to eat something.

I peaked over the table to see what was happening. Jay and the demon, who I now saw looked very similar to the Corco brothers, were engaged in combat, that was for sure, but Jay wasn't winning. Jay was on her back, the demon on top of her, trying to shove a Hell-forged dagger into her chest as Jay held back his arms. Jay's Sky-forged dagger was nowhere to be seen, and it looked like she wasn't strong enough to hold the demon back.

Jay did something with her grip and caused the dagger to bury itself in the carpet next to her head. She rolled, putting the demon under her, and reached for her sword. I didn't see the scabbard, and Jay didn't grab it, and the shock was clear as she froze for an instant. Long enough for the demon to punch Jay in the jaw and get out from under her, scrambling to find a weapon.

I tightened my grip on my staff and...

And I waited.

As much as I had been whining about being permanently bound to Jay, I wasn't there yet. I had set up a way out and wasn't a pet just yet. I had still had enough of my own will to where I could stop and just do nothing in this situation. I could just wait, and all my problems would disappear. At least, Jay would.

But that wouldn't work. If Jay died, this demon would have saved me from my debt, and thus I would be indebted to him. Given the situation, I doubted he would be generous enough to let me leave. In the end, I didn't have much of a choice.

So I moved around around the table, grabbed my staff, and called up one of my most recent memories. I held that memory firmly in my mind, and it hurt like nothing I've felt before. I don't like pain, but this time it was necessary.

I grabbed my specialty magic and stumbled over to the demon, then placed my hand on his head. I waited for what I could only hope would happen, and I wasn't disappointed. My vision turned black and I saw a demon, who I knew was Nol. Circling him were several hellhounds, though they were acting more like domesticated dogs than creatures meant to kill. He must have been the one who worked the magic that turned his friends into hellhounds.

Of course, I knew this was a demon, but that wasn't the point. I just needed a physical connection to pull of this trick. I took my magic, filled my memory with it, and forced it into Nol's mind with as much psychic force as I could manage.

And Nol suddenly knew all too well what it felt like to have your arm slashed open by a Sky-forged weapon. He knew it as well as I did, and in all forms but physically, he felt it as much in reality as I had just a short while ago.

That one strike had put me out of commission for a while, and I was barely functioning now. Nol was trying to just scramble around and find a weapon, and that becomes a lot harder when you suddenly can't use an arm.

While Nol got hit with my memory of a Sky-forged weapon, I got hit with my own psychic recoil. Mainly having a headache from who knew how many sources at this point, then suddenly adding even more stress on top of it.

Pain erupted through my head and arm as I dropped to the ground, and I thought for sure I was going to pass out. My vision faded entirely, so I just closed my eyes, dropped my talisman, put both hands on my head, and applied pressure, trying to keep breathing as the ringing in my ears momentarily deafened me. I felt ghostly, and disconnected from my body, and entirely in my head, and entirely in my arm all at the same time.

I heard Nol cry out in pain a moment later, the unmistakable sound of Jay drawing Regicide, then a few patters as liquid hit several object in the room, the table next to me, and me. Blood, no doubt.

A thud as a body fell to the ground, then silence. No, not silence, breathing. Mine, and Jay's. I tried to sit up, and managed to hold myself up with my good arm. I looked around the room, seeing Nol's body lying faced down on the carpet. It didn't turn into a hellhound.

“Stars above, what was that?” I groaned.

“What?” Jay snapped at me.

“You said you didn't want to hurt any humans!” I retorted, sounding both frustrated and tired. “And I told you not to put me in any danger!”

“He had to go!” Jay put her sword away and offered me a hand, which I took.

I bit back my response. I guess not expecting this to be easy had to go both ways. I had expected Jay to throw Bryce against a wall, not stab him in the leg and throw me out.

It wasn't my place to judge, I know I've done violent things and other stuff I wasn't proud of. Jay was a child, as much as she didn't seem like it, and it was hard to remember that she didn't actually know anything. I had more than one hundred years to grow and learn, she'd had almost none.

“We're leaving,” Jay said, not waiting for me to think of a response. “Get back in my shadow or whatever, I'm not carrying you out of here.


	28. Chapter 28

“You have got to be kidding me,” I mumbled. “Of all the days...”

Jay had crawled out through the window and landed on the ground. It had begun to rain, and mud splashed around her boots when she landed. Even though I wasn't in the rain itself I could feel Jay, and thus myself, getting hit by the water, and I didn't like the feeling.

“What's up?” Cam asked when Jay walked over to her. “You look stressed.”

“It's nothing,” Jay said, “I got the demon.”

Cam nodded, frowning. “Bryce ran out a minute ago. He's either heading home or to the police.”

“Let's move.” Jay began walking back towards the town proper.

“Can we stop by the room first?” Cam asked. “I want to change into my rain coat. And I have an umbrella for you.”

“Fine,” Jay agreed, “but we need to find our next target fast, half the day is gone.”

We walked quickly back to the inn. Once we were in the room I jumped out of Jay's shadow and moved over to the window, peering out.

“Rain,” I said disdainfully.

“Don't like rain?” Cam asked, moving over to me as she threw a raincoat on. “Doesn't seem so bad from here.”

“Makes me even less helpful.” I sighed. “Water messes with magic, makes it harder to get out a full spell.”

“Not most of my magic, or Jay's.” Cam said, standing next to me and looking outside.

“How do you get around it?” I asked, waving towards the window. “Rain grounds all my magic.”

“Don't put it out.” Cam shrugged. “Speeding myself up doesn't actually put magic outside me, so it doesn't get hit by rain.”

I sighed. “A galmour or veil will just melt away.”

“Oh, come on,” Cam smiled at me. “The rain is great, and you don't use a lot of magic anyway.”

“I don't like it.” I yawned. “Kind of puts a damper on things.”

Cam rolled her eyes at me, and I grinned, walking back to my bed and sitting down.

“How long will this rain last?” Jay asked, fiddling with the umbrella Cam handed her.

“Could be a while,” Cam replied. “We don't normally get much this time of year. But it's not usually that bad, on and off for a few hours.”

“Hopefully this doesn't ruin our plans,” I commented, looking to Jay.

“Depends,” Jay frowned. “Does our target like to work inside or outside?”

“Inside!” Cam said confidently. “Sarissa works in the clothing industry, remember? All her work is done in an office or studio. She's inside regardless of rain. I wonder what kind of clothes she has for this type of weather...”

“What do we have on Sarissa?” Jay asked quickly. “She's our only female target.”

“She's a really smart woman,” Cam said, dumping papers out of one bag. “I don't know where she got started, but I know she makes a lot of money. She designs and makes a lot of really cute clothes.”

“Why is she involved in the forgery trade?” I asked. “Bryce is the only one who made any sense.”

“Money, probably,” Cam shrugged. “She's a smart woman, so she probably knows what's good to put money in and what isn't. And forgery is a really good business.”

“No question there.” I rolled my eyes, suddenly reminded of the throbbing in my left arm. That would be a problem for the next few days.

I thought about what we might encounter. This was our last mark, and since the previous demon was Nol, that meant we were going after Aundor. I didn't know anything about Aundor other than he would know a con when he saw one, but if he was the one running this game then he was either powerful or very clever. But this was the last one, take him out and we're done. Hopefully I didn't get killed in the process.

Of course, I still needed a way to get free. After this game I would have two debts to pay to Jay. I might be able to get her to say goodbye to me once, but that wasn't enough. Did I have a way to get her to dismiss me twice?

“Ready?” Jay asked, standing by the door.

“Yes,” I replied absently, rubbing my head and dropping into Jay's shadow.

A lot had gone wrong today. Running into Grant was just the start of it, Jay had kicked me out when we were confronting Bryce. Having Jay run the show and just hiding in her shadow was definitely the smarter idea. I was surprised when Jay didn't say anything about kicking me out, but I didn't press it, I didn't want to. She seemed really on edge right now, more so than I had seen her before. She probably didn't handle being in a fight all that well.

But this was a whole new set of problems. What would we do about Sarissa? If we could get some leverage on her we might be able to make this easier. Of course, that would mean searching her house while she was out. If her main studio and office were in her house then that wouldn't be possible. And we didn't know where she lived, but Cam knew where she worked.

“Not surprising.” Jay said in response to Cam.

I looked up. We were in the middle of the shopping district. There was almost nobody about, and those that were around were rushing carefully, probably trying to get to work without getting soaked. I could only imagine how the humans in the halls outside the town must be feeling. There was no cover there. At least the cars driving around kept their passengers dry, and the tents set up as little shops had enough cover for whoever was selling anything.

“Jay!” A female voice called out.

I turned to see a human, I was pretty sure this one was female, they sounded like one and had long hair like Cam, running towards us. She was holding a large brown coat over her head, but stopped underneath Jay's umbrella.

“Amanda!” Jay said with surprise. “What are you doing here?”

Amanda. That name sounded familiar. I searched the shelves of my memory while I took in Amanda's appearance. Long brown hair, a little curly, but generally well kept. Deep blue eyes, plain clothes, and a wide assortment of weapons on her belt. She had a pistol on each hip, the common six shooter, two knives, and gloves that you might see a driver wear, but I guessed they were weapons of some kind. They were actually connected to some kind of chain, which had two sections on either end that held the weapons. The chain, I guessed, ran through her belt from behind. Why did this woman have so many weapons? Was she a hunter that Jay knew?

“Grant said you were doing your Trial in town!” Amanda said, catching her breath. She gave a bright smile to Jay. “I was hoping I would run into you while shopping, and lucky me, I did!”

“You're in town for shopping?” Jay laughed.

“No!” Amanda pouted, but didn't seem upset. “I'm getting some supplies. Grant lost his gunpowder and bullets a few days ago, so I'm getting some more while we're in town.”

I tried not to laugh at that. Any misfortune falling upon Grant would be funny in my eyes, but knowing that he wasn't at full strength made me happy. Wait, hadn't we run into Grant only an hour or two ago? How did this human find out about that so quickly?

“Hmm...” Amanda trailed off, tilting her head and looking Jay up and down. “You feel different than normal. Have you been hanging around demons? I thought you said you liked them, right?”

“No,” Jay said firmly. “I just don't like killing demons for existing. They... never mind. I have an informant, but he doesn't hang around.”

“That would explain it,” Amanda smiled again. “How far along are you? You're hunting, right?”

“I'm at three of four demons, and getting information on my last one.” Jay replied.

“Any clues?” Amanda leaned close. “Sounds like you know who it is.”

“Still looking,” Jay shrugged. “I know where they might be.”

“Good progress, a little less than half the day left.” Amanda leaned back. “Chasing or hunting?”

“Hunting,” Jay said, “my friend here gave me the job.”

“Oh!” Cam said, suddenly being thrown into the conversation. “N-nice to meet you. I'm Cam.”

“Amanda,” They shook hands. “How did you find this case?”

“I had suspicions on another target,” Cam started, “but it was just a hunch. We... found a few others through that hunch.”

I was amazed. Hadn't they said they didn't know how to grift? But they were grifting, and quite well, too! They were giving Amanda just enough information to keep her enthralled, but not giving anything valuable away. I was impressed! And horrified! Jay could grift!

“You're almost there!” Amanda gave a little cheer and turned to Jay. “Just one more and you'll be a full LeMonte. Between you and me I'm super jealous.”

“You've more than proved you belong in the family,” Jay said, putting her free hand on her hip. I was a little surprised. Unless I had been told Jay was a girl I would have continued thinking she was a boy, but right here she seemed like a girl.

“You think so?” Amanda asked.

“Of course,” Jay rolled her eyes. “Grant wouldn't ask you to marry him if he didn't think highly of you. Even if he wasn't next in line you would be welcomed like family.”

Right, the 'happy couple' Jay's brother had mentioned. That must have been Grant and this Amanda. Stars above Amanda was someone Grant respected. She must be terrifying.

“Thanks, Jay,” Amanda reached out and gave her a hug.

“Y-yeah...” Jay trailed off, not really sure how to react to a hug.

Amanda eventually broke the hug. “I should get back to Grant,” She decided. “I want to keep us both with our client when we can. Safer that way.”

“You have a job in town?” Jay asked.

“I think so.” Amanda replied. “A businessman ran to the police yesterday, said he was attacked by demons. Grant has a friend in town who apparently carries some weight, so he wants to stick with her for a while. Might be nothing, but if it is we should be there, you know?”

That wasn't good.

“Yeah... Do you... know what kind of demon you're after?” Jay asked. Amanda gave her a confused look. “Just to make sure you're not after my target.”

“Oh!” Amanda smiled again. “If it's your target you can swap out with Grant. I'm not family yet so I can help you on your Trial. We're after a demon with dark fur, but not quite black. Male, cat ears, and a tail. Like a walking cat.”

That's me. They were talking about me. I had a hit out on me? I wasn't sure if I should be flattered or horrified. Horrified should work. It must have been Bryce, but it had only been a few hours, there was no way he could have done that so fast. Had it been the Corco brothers? Had it been Lab? This could be a very big problem.

“Not mine,” Jay said quickly, sighing. “I'm after a demon with horns, not cat ears. This one's all yours.”

Amanda nodded. “Sounds good. Walk with me back to Grant? Maybe we'll spot your demon on the way.”

“Yeah, maybe,” Jay gave a smile that didn't reach her eyes.

We walked with Amanda, away from the clothing shop where Sarissa worked. I glanced back at it, worried we might miss something, but nobody walked in or out of the building. We rounded a few corners while I thought about our current situation.

Amanda didn't know I was with Jay. That meant that either Grant hadn't told her about me, or he had and they thought I was a different demon. Maybe he didn't want to tell Amanda that his sister was working with a demon? Or maybe he thought I was actually Jay's pet. It was demeaning, but it might work in our favor, for now. Or maybe they were after my identical twin...

But who was Amanda? The name was familiar, and I had a face to go with it, but I couldn't place it. Who was she?

“...Sarissa.” Amanda said, catching my attention.

“She has a clothing shop, right?” Cam asked.

What did I miss?

“I think so,” Amanda shrugged. “She just said she makes custom orders and invests her spare change. Apparently she hasn't heard from one of her friends in a few days, but she's not sure that means anything. Still, if Grant thinks she might be in danger then I'm willing to stick around a day or two to make sure she's safe. No others jobs right now, anyway.”

“You and Grant can totally protect her,” Jay said, “but why were you in town in the first place?”

“On our way home from another job,” Amanda smiled. “This one should be a lot easier, though, and Sarissa is letting us spend the night at her place, so it's pretty much free. And with two of us we shouldn't have much trouble taking down anything that comes our way baring a Demon Lord.”

Amanda and Grant were protecting Sarissa? Things just got a lot more complicated.


	29. Chapter 29

“I need help with this,” Jay said.

“There's a lot to worry about,” I agreed, jumping out of Jay's shadow. “Let me think for a minute.”

I leaned against a wall. We currently stood in an alley with a view of Sarissa's shop. After walking Amanda to Sarissa's house we left and came here.

There were suddenly a lot more players in the game. Grant was no doubt powerful, though I doubted he would do a lot of fighting with his shoulder wound. Amanda was a wild card, though, so avoiding her would be the best option. Aundor was an unknown. Then there was us.

“Plan, plan, plan.” I muttered to myself, pacing.

We need to make contact with Sarissa discreetly. Enough to know if there was a demon possessing her. The idea of her working with a demon was still an option, despite the bodyguards. Grant was apparently friends with Sarissa, something Aundor probably didn't know. This might put him on edge.

Actually, it was a really good position. If there was a demon hiding in her shadow then the LeMontes would never think to look at her as a suspect. The question was if was Aundor the type of person to know that. There wasn't really a way to know, I needed more information.

What to go off? Sarissa as an innocent businesswoman who genuinely believes she needs bodyguards, or Aundor working with her in some way and making himself a near impenetrable, but inescapable, defense? There was so much I didn't know.

“Okay,” I clapped my hands, pacing. “We need to find out if Sarissa is possessed, a demon, or what. That goal hasn't changed, and she doesn't have to be alone for that. Our idea for Bryce can work here, Jay passes Sarissa in the street, makes contact, and keeps walking. Bodyguards won't stop that, and if there's a demon they won't make a move.”

“Not with two LeMontes around.” Jay agreed. “Two LeMonte bodyguards and an unknown demon would keep any demon in their hiding spot. I can introduce myself and shake her hand.”

“What if we get Amanda on our side?” Cam asked. “She's a hunter, right? Can't she help?”

I hadn't thought of that. If we could get Amanda on our side then we would have a huge advantage. Another hunter working to take down our demon would be excellent.

“She might help,” Jay thought aloud, “but I already told her we're not after the same demon. Besides, approaching her wouldn't be very easy.”

“Hey, Amanda,” I started. “You know the woman you're trying to protect from demons? Well, I'm working with that demon and I'd like your help trying to take out a demon who may or may not be possessing your, uh, positive mark.”

“Very charismatic.” Jay glared at me, and I noticed her eyes were brown this time. “Maybe try mentioning that you caused Bryce to freak out about demons, too.”

I held my hands up in defeat. “It's a good thought. I just don't know how to work it.”

“So what do we do, then?” Cam asked.

I paused again. There was so much information I didn't have, how could I make a plan that would cover all bases?

“Is there a way to get Grant and Amanda away from Sarissa?” I asked. “Or anyone else we need to worry about with them?”

“They work alone or with each other,” Jay answered. “Since there's two of them they'll always keep at least one with Sarissa, they won't both chase after a demon, that's the rule. Always stay with your charge. We could get one to run off, but not both.”

“Hmm...” I continued pacing. “Which one would be easier to deal with, if you had to choose just one to fight?”

“In a fight? Grant, he's injured, but if all we want to do is talk then it would be easier to handle Amanda. I didn't almost stab her with my sister's sword.”

“That might lead to some bias,” Cam chimed in.

Two paths. One where there was no demon with Sarissa, one where there was. No demon, we just want to make contact, both guards can be present. There is a demon, we can't do contact unless we have a way to draw the demon out. We would need to draw Amanda away somehow. If there's always a guard though we might be able to draw Grant away and talk with Amanda.

“What do we want?” I asked, deciding this wasn't a decision I could make alone. “Do we want to confront Sarissa and her demon when we find out he's there, or do we just want information and then to handle it later?

Cam and Jay thought for a moment.

“Can you do your demon detecting thing twice? Or does it only work once?” Cam asked.

Good point.

“Just once.” I told her. “Unless one of us changed fundamentally, it only works once.”

Jay nodded. “We need to confront the demon when we find out it's there. I don't want them to have a chance to get away.”

Okay. That leaves us with wanting Grant with Sarissa. We would need a distraction to get Amanda away from the charge, then we needed Jay to make contact while I was possessing her. Then we needed a way to force the demon out of Sarissa. Even if we knew he was there it didn't mean a thing unless we had a way to draw him out.

“We need a few things,” I started. “A distraction that will get Amanda to leave Sarissa for a few minutes. We also need a way to get the demon hiding in Sarissa to leave. That's the harder part, since he'll know there's a LeMonte guarding him, and two unknowns standing in front of him.”

For a long time the only sound was the falling rain. I continued pacing, there was enough cover for me to stay dry. It would have been relaxing if I weren't trying to think of a way to get past the most dangerous hunters I had ever met while also trying to take down a demon who I knew nothing about. My life sure is interesting.

“Rejection?” Jay suggested.

“The demon and host need to be in sync,” I muttered, “so they have to be working together, so they would need a common goal. What would Sarissa want that was worth taking on the risk of a demon? She's in a respectable business position, but could it be at risk? She might take on a demon because she needed outside help. Maybe, shelve it. She wouldn't need money, her position gives her plenty of that.”

I stopped pacing and looked up. Yeah, that would work.

“Let's repeat Bryce,” I mumbled.

“What?” Jay asked.

“We go to Sarissa's house,” I started, speaking loud enough to be heard, “we enter her house, look for anything that could be a motive to have a demon. Something that drove her to work with a demon, or proof she's doing so. Actually, just anything incriminating. We bring that with us when we do our distraction, and confront her about it. We tell her we'll destroy the evidence if she gives up the demon right there.”

“That... might work.” Jay admitted.

“But we don't know anything about Sarissa,” Cam said. “We don't know if she even has anything incriminating.”

“We'll find something.” I said. “Everybody has secrets.”


	30. Chapter 30

I was starting to feel stressed about the time, but we had a plan. Rain aside, we had a job to do. Humans were walking around, going about their business, rushing to get out of the rain. Nobody would notice Cam and Jay standing in the alley and waiting, not when it was raining.

First order of business, find Amanda and Grant. We knew from our encounter with them today that they would be sticking with Sarissa, and we knew where Sarissa worked. When Cam went inside the shop to check it out she confirmed that Amanda and Grant were in there, too. We were set to move.

Jay and Cam would sit in the alley and watch the shop. If Amanda, Grant, or Sarissa came out then Cam would run over to Sarissa's house, where I would be, and warn me. I would be searching for something to use to blackmail Sarissa. Once I had something I would return to the alley and as a group we would think of a way to get one of the guards away from Sarissa.

For now, though, I was walking to Sarissa's house, safe under the umbrella I was borrowing from Cam and Jay. When I got to the door I made sure nobody was following me, I didn't want a repeat of the Corco brothers, and used my same little chunk of ice to unlock the door. I made my way inside, locked the door, and started looking around.

This house was surprisingly normal as well, maybe I didn't know humans as well as I thought. Nothing was extremely impressive, and there was nothing extravagant lying around. By all means this house could belong to anyone who made a fair amount of money.

“Did I get the right house?” I asked aloud, realizing I talk to myself when I'm alone, and that that was a bad habit. “This looks like Bryce's house.”

“Let's check the clothes,” I suggested, “she'll have something impressive there. That's her whole business.”

I searched around and found the bedroom upstairs, a closet hidden behind a sliding door. I didn't understand human fashion, but I could tell the clothes were of very high quality, and very expensive. Nobody would spend this much money on clothes unless they had plenty to spare. At least, that's how demons worked. Either way, this was the right house.

I reached into the closet and felt one of the articles of clothing. I couldn't say what it was, but I could tell from its look and feel that it wasn't a low quality material. It was soft, and smooth, and very pleasant to the touch. If I hadn't been on a schedule I might have taken some of the clothes or tried them on, I never got to wear anything so high quality.

“Look for anything incriminating,” I suggested, looking around.

I started in the bedroom, but found nothing other than clothes. So I moved systematically, room by room, looking for anything I could use, but I didn't find a single thing. The most I got was a set of papers with numbers on them, but they all seemed to add up, I had nothing to compare them to, and there was no Script on the other side. I didn't know what to do with these.

“Stars above,” I whispered, moving towards the door. “She's an honest woman who runs an honest business. She might not even have a demon.”

What did I do now? I could make another run through the house, but I doubted it would turn anything up. This house showed signs of being lived in, but no signs of a lot of business being done here. Was Sarissa's office in her store? Somewhere else entirely? Did she actually have no secrets she was hiding? Her lounge had nothing useful in it.

“I don't know,” I mumbled as I walked the house again. “I've never tried to con an honest human before. I've got nothing.”

There was nothing here. Nothing that could be incriminating or used as blackmail. The papers I had were, at most, replaceable and probably unimportant. I doubted that bringing them would serve any purpose, but it was worth a try, maybe they were some human thing.

“Let's regroup,” I decided, “we can come up with a plan when we're all together.”

I left the house, locked the door, and started to walk back to the alley. There was just one problem. When turning the corner I ran face first into Nat Corco.

“Stars,” He said, quickly grabbing my shoulder, “been looking for you.”

“Uh...” Came my elegant response.

I didn't wait. I turned and ran in the opposite direction. I only got a few steps before an enormous weight grabbed me and pulled me to the ground. I gasped for breath as I dropped the papers, those probably weren't important anyway, but manage to hold onto my staff.

Nat, the one who had thrown me to the ground, spun me around and slammed his head into mine. Pain exploded through my face, reminding me once again of my already splitting headache, and I fought to breath for a minute. When my vision cleared I saw Nat sitting over me, blood on his forehead. It was my blood, from my now broken nose. Adrenaline was stopping it from hurting too much, but I could tell that in a few minutes it would hurt. Bad.

“Thought you could run?” The brother, who I suddenly remembered that his name was John, asked as he approached.

“It worked before?” I tried, suddenly realizing how hard it was to talk or breath without a working nose. I tried to give a little grin, but even that hurt.

“Hey!” A voice called out.

The Corco brothers turned, but evidently didn't think much of the person, as they turned back to me immediately.

“What's going on?” The voice was closer. I tried to focus on it. Cam?

“'Scuse us, miss,” John said, holding out a hand to keep Cam away, “this is personal business.”

“This cat 'as a few debts to pay,” Nat grinned.

“Cat?” Another voice asked.

Cam turned. A mix of horror, surprise, and realization crossed her face. “Amanda!”

“We're in for it now,” I said, spitting blood.


	31. Chapter 31

This was probably the worst situation I could possibly end up in. Vulnerable in front of not just a LeMonte, but a LeMonte by action and not birth, two demons who wanted me dead, and, oh yeah, Cam was here. This was not on my list of things that could have gone wrong. But here I was.

How do I get out of this? I had my talisman in my hand, but I probably couldn't get off any spells with all this rain. No magic this time, maybe talking would work.

Before I could open my mouth, though, a few things happened. John pulled Nat off me, both of them falling to the side, and I fell sideways and rolled onto my stomach. I pushed myself to my feet, seeing that where I had been lying a moment ago now had a Sky-forged dagger, buried in the stone.

I glanced towards Amanda, who reached to her belt thing and grabbed the dagger on her right hip. She pulled at it, taking it off the chain as the blade filled with blue light. Right, Amanda was the sister who could align weapons. One of two sisters I never wanted to meet.

“How about we talk this out?” I suggested loudly, all eyes turning to me. “I mean, I'm sure the LeMonte here would love to sit and chat.”

I probably only needed to say the word LeMonte to get the reaction I was looking for, but it worked all the same. John and Nat scrambled to stand up, turned to the nearest alley, and ran. Amanda turned her focus to them, throwing her knife with such accuracy she actually managed to land it in one of the brother's legs.

I didn't say anything, I turned and ran, scooping up my fallen umbrella.

“Stop him!” Amanda cried out, voice hard.

“What?” Cam turned back towards Amanda. Acting or not, it was a smart reaction.

I turned down the first street I found, trying hard to breath with no nose. I turned the next corner I found, then the next. I was back in the square where the shop was. I just ran a full circle, perfect. On the bright side, there was no way Amanda would think I would turn right again and end up back where I started.

I ducked into an alley, different from the one the Corco brothers had run into. A dead end. This was actually a good thing. There were several crates and barrels lining the alley, I could use this. I didn't have any ideas when it came to fighting, and apparently not with running, but hiding was something I was an expert at. Luckily, I was small enough to make almost anything work.

Using my staff I smashed the nearest crate, grabbed some of the pieces of wood, and threw them down the alley. I did this with a second crate, then smashed just one side of a third. I turned over a barrel, rolled one towards the other wall, and broke a third in half with my staff. I turned the last crate I had smashed so that the open side was on the bottom, then crawled underneath it, now absolutely soaked.

I tried to keep my breathing even, but even a little bit of running had left me breathless. That, and the adrenaline from my broken nose. I would be feeling that any second now.

Footsteps splashed through the alley. I held my breath, listening as they walked deeper into the alley. They passed by me, slowing, then stopped. I could imagine Amanda looking around, wondering where I had gone.

Had I disappeared into this alley, or was it the next one? No, it was this alley. Did I try and hide in the shadows, or double back and try to make a getaway? Did I move the boxes and hide behind them? I could have done any number of things now that I had time to think about it.

My lungs felt like they were about to burst. My mind was screaming for air, but I kept holding my breath. A few more seconds, that was all I needed. Just a little more and she would turn around and walk away.

The crate suddenly shifted, the corner breaking, light shining through. I would have screamed if I didn't clamp both hands over my mouth. I sat absolutely still. No breathing, no moving, no thinking. Predators can smell fear, so as long as I stopped thinking about this I would stop being scared. Right?

For once I was right. I heard the sound of a few other boxes being kicked, and then fading footsteps. I continued holding my breath and counted to ten. Before I hit six I was gasping for air, but nothing moved once I shoved the box off me.

Stars above.

I started gasping for breath. Air had never felt so good, I would never take breathing for granted again. I held my hands to my nose to asses the damage. Sharp pain shot through my face, but quickly dulled. I could breath, but it would take some time to heal.

“Here I am trying to avoid danger,” I moaned, trying to catch my breath, “but it finds me anyway. I need to find Cam and Jay.”


	32. Chapter 32

“That looks bad.” Cam said, gingerly touching my nose.

I inhaled through my teeth as more pain shot through my face. I was sitting in the same alley Jay had been in the whole time, as far back and out of view as I could be.

“What happened?” Jay asked.

“Stop that,” I said, brushing Cam's hand away. She had started to scratch my head, just behind my ears. I am not a common house cast.

“So what happened?” Jay repeated, harsher

“Got into the house just fine,” I started, “but I couldn't find anything to use against Sarissa. She's an honest woman, or she just runs her business out of the shop. I have nothing.”

“Dammit.” Jay cursed.

“We've got time left in the day.” Cam noted, looking up at the sky. It was starting to get dark, actual end of the day dark, and the rain was slowing. “The clouds might be making it dark a few hours early, we can still try something.”

“But what do we try?” Jay asked. “Grant and Amanda are a really big wall to get over.”

What was I supposed to say here? I didn't have any more ideas. I had no idea how to draw out Amanda without getting myself killed, and I really didn't want that to happen. There was nothing we could use to force Sarissa to reject her demon, either. She didn't seem to have any secrets. Unless somebody else had an idea, we had nothing.

“I have no idea,” I said, sighing. “I don't know where to go from here.”

“There's gotta be something,” Jay started pacing. “Something we missed, maybe. A way to get out the demon. If we can get them out, even if Grant or Amanda kills them, I can still count it.”

I wanted to tell her to give up, but I had nothing. This last demon was too well protected.

“Those clouds...” Cam said slowly. “I'm gonna run to the inn and grab a lantern. I'll be right back.”

Cam stood and walked out of the alley. It was just me and Jay.

“Something,” She muttered, “there has to be something.”

“Maybe your brother can help?” I suggested, shaking my head a little so my ears weren't weighed down. “Tell him you're suspicions about where this last demon is hiding.”

“Can't,” Jay said quickly. “No help from the family allowed. If I get the demon out then it doesn't matter, he's already dead, who actually lands the killing blow isn't important, but I can't ask him for help on this, it won't count.”

I sighed again. “Amanda, then? As terrifying as she is she might be willing to listen.”

“Maybe...” Jay said slowly.

She suddenly slammed her fist into the nearest wall, shaking loose all the water on the edge of the roof.

“Dammit!” She cursed. “I sat here for an hour doing nothing! I should have been in the house, or talking to Sarissa, or doing some other plan!”

I didn't say anything.

“Maybe... maybe I can draw Amanda away.” Jay continued. “Tell her what I'm thinking. She'll help me, but how do we get the demon out? Ugh.” Jay turned and kicked the nearest crate.

Jay spun around to face me, brown eyes turning gray. I froze. I didn't know why, but I knew Jay had a lot shorter fuse when her eyes were gray.

I didn't want to think about it, but was she planning on making me her fourth? I was sitting here, basically powerless. I had to admit, I was easy prey, but she wouldn't. Would she? I had helped her with three other demons, she wouldn't do this to me.

Had Cam left for this exact reason? She said she went to grab a lantern, but did she really leave so she didn't have to see Jay take the easy way out? But she wouldn't have, she wanted these four demons dead, didn't she? Or did she only need some of them dead? One demon in the business wouldn't be a lot to worry about, it was just one vote.

“I'm trying.” Jay said. “I'm really trying to hate you right now. You're sarcastic, and you're annoying, and you're a know it all, and I hate having to be responsible for you. I've never seen a real emotion on your face, and you look calm and removed the whole time, and I hate how you keep trying to be in charge.”

She was considering it. She was going to take the easy way out. But I wouldn't go down without a fight. I had my talisman, and there was water on the ground. Jay wouldn't be able to close the distance before I could freeze her in place.

“But I don't hate you enough.” Jay said, suddenly sounding very tired.

I stopped thinking about how to defend myself. That was a good sign.

“You gave me plans to take down demons, and they worked. I was a jerk, but you stayed and continued to put in an effort. And I've been asking you to take down a group you probably want to help, and you haven't complained about it.”

Jay leaned back against a wall.

“And I can't hate you enough to kill you. I keep thinking 'just kill him, he's a demon, you can end this all right now' but I can't. Because you've sacrificed so much for me the past few days. I can't take the easy way out on this one, because then everything we've done meant nothing, and I'm not any better than any other hunter looking for their next payday. I want to just disregard you, but I can't.”

So I was safe. For now.

“I have one idea,” Jay continued. “Jump in my shadow.”

I didn't say anything, I was honestly kind of shocked.

“Jump in my shadow,” Jay said, louder, “but it's a long shot.”

I blinked a few times, but stood up. I entered Jay's shadow and watched as she looked to the shop Sarrisa was in. I was curious, what was this plan?

“Hey.” Cam said, turning the corner with a lantern. “Where's our friend?”

“Shadow.” Jay sighed. “We've got one last shot.”

“So what are we doing?” Cam asked.

“When she closes shop we run to her house,” Jay said, “we're going to surprise her.”


	33. Chapter 33

It only took us a few minutes to move out. The moment Grant opened the door to the shop Jay and Cam ran to Sarissa's house. We waited for a few minutes, and when lanterns appeared around the corner Cam and Jay began walking towards them.

“Jay!” Amanda greeted brightly as she rounded the corner. “Good to see you again.”

“You too!” Jay replied, though not as brightly.

“How's your Trial going?” Amanda asked, leaning close. “Get that last demon yet?”

“Almost done,” Jay smiled, “I've got them right where I want them.”

I turned towards Sarissa, looking for a reaction. I didn't see much on her face. If anything, there was slight relief. She must have been really worried about demons if she was glad to hear a random one was going down. As much as I wanted to, I couldn't say if she had a demon.

But I did catch some other details. She was the youngest of our marks, but I couldn't tell how young. She had long blonde hair, and a face that looked like it had seen a lot of stress. She wore expensive clothes, but it also looked like she could run in them. Good choice, given the weather.

“Good to hear!” Amanda's smile was as bright as the sun. “You're almost done!”

“That's right,” Jay continued to smile. “How about you. Is your job going well?” Jay indicated Sarissa and Grant.

“Just fine.” Grant replied, eying Jay.

“Heard you two got into a fight.” Amanda whispered to Jay. “Impressive. You'll have to tell me about it. Later, of course. Back at the manor?”

“Yeah, once we all get home.”

Jay accepted a hug from Amanda, nodded to Grant, and offered her hand to Sarissa. Sarissa hesitated for a moment, then shook Jay's hand. I held my breath and waited, but nothing happened.

“Nothing,” I sighed. “No demon. She's clean.”

“I'll let you get to it,” Jay said. “Give 'em hell.”

“As always.” Grant and Amanda replied.

Cam and Jay began walking past the group. I stood where I was, staring down Sarissa. I had a little more distance before I would be forced to follow, but I wasn't satisfied with this. Did we have the wrong mark? Was there really only three? Then who was Aundor?

“Dammit.” I used a human curse, stomping my foot angrily. “I was so close to being free.”

I sighed, but started walking after Jay. I turned and walked backwards, looking for something, anything that I could...

Wait.

Grant had a lantern on him, and it was casting a bright light, sending shadows behind everybody. He had just walked into Sarissa's house, his shadow was casting on Sarissa and Amanda. Amanda's shadow was casting directly behind her. But Sarissa's wasn't at the right angle. The head of Sarissa's shadow was peering after Cam and Jay.

It's her shadow! The demon wasn't possessing Sarissa, they were hiding in her shadow! I opened my mouth to yell at Jay, but stopped.

As much as I loved hanging out with a LeMonte and killing demons, I had an opportunity here. I had the chance to do and say nothing, and lose nothing for it. The forgery trade would return to normal, with only one demon having voting power, though nobody would know that except me. Demons would have more sway than angels, Cam would be satisfied, and Jay would leave the city.

I had done my job, hadn't I? I had accompanied Jay. I had given her advice when she asked for it, I had given her plans which she ignored, and I had let her use my senses and skills. I had helped her and Cam with their quest and that was that. They couldn't blame me if this last demon wasn't possessing a human and I didn't see them when Jay made physical contact. That wasn't my fault.

But should I have done something? Should I have called out to Jay? Sarissa had already gone back inside her house, probably locked her door, and was heading off to bed. She was gone, there was nothing I could do, right?

Right?

I hadn't done anything wrong, had I? I had done my job. I had helped, even though I didn't want to. What was wrong with me getting something out of it? Maybe Jay didn't get her happy ending, but the job was done. Demons were killed. The business was back to normal. I had done my job.

Right?

I hadn't done anything wrong, right? The job was over. It was done. I could be done with this. I would be free of Jay. Cam would leave. I could leave. This was done. Right?

Right?

I wasn't in conflict with myself. Not at all. I didn't want a fight, I didn't want to be around hunters, I just wanted to rest. It didn't matter anymore. It was over. Right?

“Orion!” Jay snapped her fingers in front of me.

My fur stood on end and I took a step back. Jay was suddenly standing in front of me, glaring at me. We were almost back at the inn, when had that happened? How did we get all the way here? I didn't remember walking this far.

“Stop!” Jay commanded.

And I did. I stopped what I was thinking and focused entirely on Jay.

“You're thinking too loud...” Jay sighed.

“I...” I tried to say something, but didn't know what.

“It's fine.” Jay cut me off. “We still have the morning. We can try and get the demon before the meeting tomorrow.”

“Sarissa isn't possessed,” I stated flatly.

“We'll check again in the morning. Then you can go.”

I could go?

“You've helped enough. Let's just get through Cam's presentation of her spider and then you're free to go.”

I would be free?

“O-okay,” I said.

I should be excited. I was finally going to be free, Jay had told me twice I would be free, and the job would be over. That was all the debt. I could leave.

But I didn't feel anything.


	34. Chapter 34

I didn't sleep well that night. My arm hurt, my nose hurt, my head hurt, everything hurt. I woke up just as tired as when I went to bed, and just as irritable. I wanted to relax and eat something, but Cam decided we didn't have time for that and rushed us off to her house. Maybe I would have been excited to be in such a wealthy person's house, but I was stuck in Jay's shadow so I didn't really feel anything about it overall.

After walking down a hall with a very plush carpet, based on looks not feel, and several doors on each side, Cam stopped us in front of a door that looked no different from the others, but was still much nicer than any door I had ever owned. Fine wood, polished, I hate rich humans.

Cam didn't knock on the door, she just opened it and walked through, Jay following. The room inside had a very large table, covered in a white cloth, eight chairs with four on either side, and a small crystal between each pair of chairs. This room also had plush carpet, but only by the door, the rest of the floor was some other kind of fine wood, also polished. Thanks to the light from the windows, the room was well lit.

“This is the meeting room,” Cam said. “There's gonna be a few extra chairs, so you can take one.”

“Are you nervous?” Jay asked.

“A little,” Cam replied, “but it's okay. I still have more work I can do on this, maybe...”

She trailed off, looking towards one of the windows.

“Where does Sarissa normally sit?” Jay changed the subject.

“Far side, one from the end.” Cam pointed to the chair.

Jay nodded, took the corner chair on the side closest to the door, and pulled it back towards the corner of the room. As she was moving it, though, Cam reached out and gently placed her hand on Jay's shoulder.

“Can you... sit at the table with me? Please?”

Jay's eyes, which had done little but glare at me the past few days, softened. “Sure.”

Cam nodded, took a deep breath, then let it out slowly. She gently set her spider in front of the chair next to Jay's, then left the room. As Jay sat down I moved around the table and sat down across from her.

“So...” I intentionally trailed off.

Jay tilted her chair back and forth, rocking carelessly. “Last chance.”

“Last chance,” I echoed. “Do we have a plan?”

“Physical contact,” She said, “and ff she's a demon or possessed, you'll be able to tell, right?”

“Right,” I answered, “but if she's not a demon?”

Jay paused, biting her bottom lip and mulling over her answer. “Maybe there was only three?”

“Maybe.”

I knew that there were four demons, but that wasn't something I was about to share. Since the previous mark had been Nol, that meant that Aundor was still around. Maybe he was possessing Sarissa, maybe he had left, maybe he jumped to someone else, maybe he was just the mastermind and wasn't actually doing anything physically.

“Hopefully it's just a peaceful meeting,” I said, leaning back in my chair.

Jay nodded at the spider. “What do you think?”

“About the spider? It's creepy.”

“Do you think it has a chance?”

I thought about that for a minute. It was unconventional in almost every sense of the word, but it was unique. It wasn't something I would have thought of, but it did its job fairly well. When Cam had used it to check out the club she had been able to get a full inside view from complete safety. That gave it a lot of potential for reconnaissance.

Cam had also said that she had wanted to put full blades on it, too. While the thought of something like that was chilling, I had to admit it could be very effective. If you knew for sure that a target was an angel or demon you could just have the spider walk right up to them and cut their throat with an aligned blade. Quick, clean, silent, and all from the safety of however far you could be and still control it.

“Depends on how the humans think,” I decided. “How ruthless and intelligent they are.”

Jay nodded slowly. “They think in business, not in battle.”

I looked to the door as it opened. Cam walked in first, then who I could only presume was her father. He reminded me a little of Gillian, though much less extreme. He had clearly been eating well, enough to cause a large gut in his midsection, but not enough to stop him from buttoning up his nice gray suit. He had gray pants, ironed and pressed if I had to guess, and graying hair. He had smile lines on his face, though his current expression gave me the impression he wasn't very happy.

Cam sat down in the chair next to Jay and started fiddling with her spider's legs. Cam's father sat at the far side of the table, at the end, and smiled once at Jay, before leaning forward slightly and folding his hands together on the table.

Nobody spoke, and despite my desire I decided not to say something about the silence. I did, however, stand up and get out of my chair when Grant, Amanda, and Sarissa walked in. I knew they couldn't see or interact with me, but I gave them plenty of space to walk past Jay, past me, and into the three chairs remaining on the far side of the table, Sarissa between the two hunters.

“Wonderful.” I muttered, moving to stand behind Cam and Jay and folding my arms.

Two other humans eventually walked in, both were men, and they both looked wealthy. I rolled my eyes when they took the two remaining seats. There was only one woman at the table as an investor, what were the humans doing? Something like this wouldn't stand if it was demons running the show.

“Has anyone seen Samuel?” Cam's father asked, his voice mid range and unpleasant to hear.

There were a few mutters from the humans at the table, but the general consensus was no.

“Gillian?” He asked.

The same response, albeit it with a little more energy. I got the impression the humans here weren't the biggest fans of Gillian.

“So we have four of us here today.” Cam's father continued, not mentioning Bryce. “I suggest that we postpone our meeting until next month, unless anyone has major business?”

Cam slowly raised her hand, eyes down.

“Cam?” Her father asked.

“Yes!” She replied quickly, both her and her spider jumping in surprise. “I... I have a new design for my clockwerk spider I would like to present.”

Cam quickly stood up, nearly knocking her chair over backwards, and walked to the edge of the table, standing between Jay and Grant. She glanced at her spider, suddenly realized it was out of reach, and motioned for it to come to her. It lifted itself up, crawled over to her, and settled down into something resembling a sitting position.

“Wait,” One of the wealthy men held up a hand. He had a surprisingly deep voice. “Shouldn't this wait until we have all our members here? Samuel and Bryce were adamantly against your creation, they're the ones you need to convince.”

“B-but,” Cam started, “I have my spider here. Now. A-and the next meeting is in a month!”

“Let the girl present,” The other wealthy man said.

“With only four members?” The deeper voiced man asked.

“We have three guests.” Cam's father said, gesturing towards Grant, Amanda, and Jay. “As professional hunters they can stand in.”

“I can't.” Jay said, sitting up in her chair. “I'm Cam's best friend.”

Cam's father nodded, then spoke. “Then I will excuse myself, and we can have five votes. All opposed?”

Silence.

The deeper voice man sighed. “It's your business, Geoffrey.”

Geoffrey, Cam's father, nodded. “Let's see what changes have been made.”

Cam sighed in relief, then took a deep breath and launched into her speech.

I didn't pay attention, it was probably the same as I had heard a few days ago anyway. I instead took time to walk around the room and investigate each person. Jay was very perceptive, I would expect nothing less from a LeMonte, which gave me a lot of room to use. An average human might not have the same level of detail on all the individuals in a room, or so much of the room in her consciousness.

I took time to investigate Grant and Amanda. Jay couldn't exactly see certain parts of them, and I didn't have any information to substitute, so those parts appeared a little fuzzier, but I still got a general idea. I could see that Amanda's belt still held her weapons and her gloves, and was still chilling to think about. Grant still carried a bag, though it was currently lying over his chair. Sarissa, in a different outfit from yesterday, was still very nicely dressed, but still didn't give me the impression she was a demon.

I spent a few extra moments investigating her, watching as her eyes turned to Jay, who made eye contact for a few seconds before Sarissa turned back to watching the clockwerk spider. Jay glanced up at me, but I shook my head. Nothing. It was probably a good sign at this point, though I was careful to not look down at Sarissa's shadow. I didn't want Jay to get any hints, I wanted out of this situation with as little demon blood spilled as possible.

Sighing, I moved to the table and, lifting myself up slightly, sat down on it between Sarissa and Grant, my back towards the door. I turned my head towards Cam and her spider, which was currently on its hind legs and showing off the inner blades it had.

Grant and Amanda made that sound humans make when they're impressed, that long vowel sound that I never understood, and they both leaned forward. Grant was favoring one shoulder, which meant he was still feeling it from the fight yesterday. I rubbed absently at my left arm, which still hurt, and twitched my tail in annoyance. I was allowed to be happy he was also still hurt.

I flicked my ears as the spider crawled over the table towards me, but stopped at Sarissa, turned towards her, and lifted its front legs. It looked like it wanted to be picked up, but it was really just showing off the inner blades.

From my perspective, I could guess that Cam was trying to throw off Sarissa and her demon, though Cam and Jay didn't know for sure there was a demon involved. Everyone else in the room probably thought that Cam was showing off to one of the naysayers from previous meetings.

Maybe if I was watching Sarissa's shadow I would have seen it move wrong, or not move at all when it should have. I instead put my focus on Sarissa and the spider, where it made sense for it to be. If I wasn't watching Sarissa's shadow then I couldn't give Jay any hints.

Eventually Cam finished her demonstration, and she stopped finding points to talk about. Then it came down to voting. Geoffrey had excused himself, so that left five humans. The two wealthy men were still for the spider, Sarissa, for her own reasons, was against it. Two for and one against.

“I like it,” Grant started, “but I don't have the fine control needed to use it. I couldn't make any use of it, so I'm voting against it.”

Fair enough. Not very smart from a business perspective, though. Or maybe it was. As a demon I had a few extra years to get good with my magic, so I had very tight control over some spells. Humans probably didn't live long enough to get that same level of control, so maybe it was a smart decision.

Two for and two against. Amanda would be the deciding factor.

“It's incredible.” Amanda said with a bright smile. “I've never seen anything like it, and it's kind of cute, too! But, I don't think it's right for the job. Most hunters I know are more confrontational, and when stealth is necessary there's usually a hunter nearby who specializes in that. Maybe this just isn't the right field for the design?”

Another no. Two for, three against. Even with three votes taken out, all of them demons in some way, the spider was still turned down.


	35. Chapter 35

“O-oh.” Cam said quietly.

“Maybe if it was bigger?” Amanda suggested. “If it was a different animal it could be used somewhere else, like a horse pulling a carriage filled with construction stuff.”

“Yeah,” Cam mumbled.

I shrugged, but didn't think on it too much. Oh well, she had tried.

And oh well on the demon, too. Guess we would just all go our separate ways and that would be that. Nothing else to be done about it.

Geoffrey called the meeting to a close, and everybody stood up. The two wealthy men began chatting and left the room quickly. Geoffrey walked over to Cam and began talking with her very quietly. Grant and Amanda stood with Sarissa and began talking, though they weren't trying to hide their volume.

Jay stood up and walked towards the door, but instead of going out leaned against the wall next to it and gestured for me to come over.

“Nothing?” She asked quietly when I got close.

“Not a thing,” I replied. Not even a lie, I hadn't seen anything suspicious.

“Is there anything else you can do?”

Tough question, I would have to be very careful with my answer.

“I don't know if she has a demon,” I said, “but I don't think she's a demon.”

“Tch.” Jay turned back towards Sarissa.

“Bad day all aroundn” I mumbled. “No spider, no demon.”

“Hey, what was the name of the last demon?”

“Hmm?”

“The last demon I fought? He knew how to fight, he must have been working with the leader and not for them. What was his name?”

“Nol,” I sighed, hoping Jay wasn't going to do anything.

But of course she did. Jay walked over to Sarissa, Grant, and Amanda, who stopped talking when Jay got close.

“Jay.” Grant said, nodding.

“Hi, Jay!” Amanda gave a little wave.

“Hey, guys,” Jay gave a weak smile. “Guess the spider wasn't good enough, huh?”

“It's really cool,” Amanda said, “but I couldn't ever see myself using it. I'm a little too 'up in your face' to really make use of it.”

“Yeah,” Jay sighed, “it's a shame, though, it's been really helpful the past few days.”

“You've been using it?” Grant asked.

“Mhmm. Used it to help take down a few demons.” Jay then turned towards Sarissa. “One of them mentioned you, actually. Nol.”

“Nol?” Sarissa asked, tilting her head.

I knew what I was looking for, so I saw it from the corner of my eyes. I saw that Sarissa's shadow didn't move, it had frozen completely when Jay said the name, the head didn't tilt. I wasn't sure how, but this demon was actually just Sarissa's shadow, or on top of it, or actually in it without possessing her. Hopefully, though, Jay hadn't seen this small detail.

But Jay wasn't a LeMonte for nothing. Her eyes darted down to the ground and focused on the shadow.

“Gotcha.” She whispered, grabbing her Sky-forged knife and dropping to the ground.

“What the-!” Amanda started.

“Jade!” Grant called.

Sarissa recoiled as Jay approached, but her shadow didn't. Jay shoved her knife into the wood, once again trying to stab a shadow, but this shadow was ready, twisting to the side, then jumping away from Sarissa.

“Shadow!” Jay called out.

“The shadow?” Everyone seemed to say in unison, realizing Sarissa's shadow had actually left her body.

But the shadow didn't sit still. It jumped to Amanda and grabbed the head of her shadow. Then it rose from the ground, twisting itself around her and placing a dark hand on her head. Amanda wasn't going down without a fight, though. She slid her hands into the gloves on her belt, pulling them off as blue light filled them and turned into Sky-forged gloves, and grabbed at the shadow.

Amanda suddenly froze, the shadow around her stopped moving. She took a step back, then another, then starting shaking. The shadow moved again, dropping to the ground and forming a small puddle under Amanda.

Without warning Amanda jumped forward, tackling Jay to the ground. They rolled into the table, the light from Amanda's Sky-forged gloves vanishing, before Jay managed to push herself off Amanda, making brief skin to skin contact.

My vision faded. I didn't see a demon, just darkness, shifting black masses. This was Aundor.

“Shadow magic,” I called to Jay, running to her side as she circled Amanda. “Watch the shadows.”

“That's who you have to help you?” Amanda taunted, her voice filled with malice. “Three star parlor tricks?”

Everyone's a comedian. What did he even see?

Amanda reached for the guns on her belt. She grabbed both and pulled. Dark purple light filled the weapons as her hands grabbed them, and she pulled two Hell-forged pistols, weapons that didn't actually exist yet. She swung her arms out and pointed one gun at Sarissa, the other at Jay, and pulled the triggers.

Grant wasn't a LeMonte for nothing. He shoved Sarissa aside, then slumped to the ground. Sarissa let out a high pitched scream and dropped to her knees. The other bullet came speeding towards Jay, but aiming two guns in two directions is a lot harder than it sounds. The bullet went wide, missing her entirely.

“Dad!” Cam shouted.

I turned in time to see Cam's father collapse to the ground, his jacket slowly turning a dark red, and Cam was trying to hold him up. Cam fell under his weight, keeping him on his back, and stared at him, completely speechless.

I took an instant to take full stock of the room and the situation. Next to me was Jay, standing ready to pounce at Amanda, now possessed by Aundor, who stood only a few feet away. Behind Aundor, and a few feet to their left, was Sarissa and the unconscious Grant. To my left and a few feet behind me were Cam and her bleeding out father. To my right was the table and a few chairs, behind me was the door that lead out of the room, two windows were fitted into the left most and right most walls of the room.

Now that I had full stock of the room and the situation, I didn't do anything.

Technically, I was still bound to Jay, but not to the point where I had to jump to her defense. I had no true allegiance to anyone in the room. All I had to do was just be present, and that would meet all the expectations set out for me.

“Cover them!” Jay said, indicating Cam and her father briefly before pouncing on Aundor and throwing him to the ground.

“With what?” I asked, jumping out of Jay's shadow and running towards Cam.

I held the larger part of my staff in both hands and dragged it through the air above me as I ran. I poured my magic into it, crafting a large veil on the fly. I had never made one bigger than enough to cover me and one other person. This one was big enough to cover a group, and acted like a large sheet in form and weight.

I dropped it over me once I got to Cam and her father, hiding all of us from view. I dropped to the ground breathlessly, suddenly unable to breath or even stay on my feet. A veil was delicate work, and making a massive one was no easy task. Colors swirled in my vision as magic rushed into my head.

“Bandages!” Cam said, tearing open her father's jacket.

I didn't move or say anything. My head was spinning and I felt like if I moved I would fall through the floor.

“Orion.” Cam said to me directly. “Get my bag and grab my bandages.”

“R-right.” I gasped, looking around the room and finding the bag nearby.

I grabbed the bag and handed the roll to Cam, then took a moment to try and catch my breath, shaking my head and shoving the mental fog out of my mental library. I looked down at Cam's father, his shirt stained with human red blood. The bullet hit his stomach, and when Cam put her hand underneath him I could see blood staining his coat. The bullet had gone through, and he was bleeding a lot. I knew I could handle a wound like this if I got bandaged, but I wasn't sure about an older human.

Cam flipped Geoffrey onto an uninjured side as she grabbed me and gently pulled me over to him.

“Hold him still.” She said, grabbing the roll and starting to wrap his stomach.

She made quick work of rolling out bandages as I placed a hand on Geoffrey, put didn't apply any force to try and hold him still.

“Hey.” I said, my head spinning, as I tried to find the right words for this language. “Get Sarissa and Grant and bring them under this veil.”

Cam didn't nod or say anything, but she did stand up and, throwing a lock of her hair to the side, move quickly to where Sarissa and Grant were, grabbing Grant's legs and slowly dragging him over towards us. Sarissa recovered from her shock and began to help, grabbing Grant's arms, and the two girls lifted him and brought him over to me, where I threw up a corner of my veil like a blanket and let them underneath it.

“Y-you're a demon!” Sarissa said in shock.

“Keep pressure here.” Cam said to me as she knelt down next to me. Then, to Sarissa, “Help me with him.”

Sarissa didn't help Cam as she rolled Grant over to look for his wounds. I winced as I heard another gunshot, but didn't look for the source. If Jay had been shot I would have heard something.

“Why are you here?” Sarissa asked.

Two incapacitated humans, a shadow demon possessing an honorary LeMonte, another LeMonte fighting that possessed LeMonte, and the daughter of the forgery trade dragging the final LeMonte under a veil, and this human was questioning a demon helping with first aid?

Cam found it. The bullet had gone through Grant's bad shoulder, and I chose to not be happy about that. This one would be much easier to deal with. Still using her roll of bandages, Cam wrapped them around Grant's shoulder and under his arm, then put his head on Sarissa's lap.

“Keep his shoulder elevated. If he starts bleeding through the bandages put on more and apply pressure.”

Cam came back over towards me and dropped the roll of bandages. No longer needed, I took a moment to get to my feet, then ducked out from under my veil, looking for Jay. I found her locked in some kind of martial arts fight with Aundor, who was wearing one Sky-forged glove and one Hell-forged glove. I looked around and saw that Jay's favorite weapon, her Sky-forged dagger, was lying on the ground near the table.

I ran forward and grabbed the Sky-forged dagger, feeling an uncomfortable tingling run up my arm, and moved towards Jay. Aundor noticed me and reached for a knife on his belt, but Jay spun, placing her shoulder under Aundor's arm, kicked one of his legs out with her own, grabbed Aundor's arm, and threw him onto his back.

I handed Jay's knife back to her and dropped into her shadow, once again possessing her, as Jay dropped onto Aundor and pinned him to the ground. At least while I was here it was easier to ignore my pain and fatigue.

“This girl has quite the power,” Aundor said, smiling. “I think I'll keep her.”

“Not if I have any say in it,” Jay growled.

“Tell me,” Aundor lost his grin, “did Nol actually sell me out?”

“Wouldn't know.” Jay sneered. “I cut his head off before he got a word in.”

Aundor laughed. “And here I was thinking he had sold me out. Oh, I'm a fool, falling for that.”

Aundor pulled his legs up and kicked at Jay's stomach. She took the blow, barely making a sound, but stumbled backwards and held a hand to her stomach. Without waiting Aundor rushed at Jay, a Hell-forged knife in hand. Jay dropped to the ground, sweeping out a leg to knock Aundor off his feet. Responding just as quickly Aundor placed a hand on Jay's head, throwing his legs in the air, effectively using her as a springboard. Using his weight to push Jay's head to the ground Aundor flew into the air, pulling out a Hell-forged knife and throwing it. Jay rolled to the side, barely avoiding the blade, which started to lose color the moment it buried itself in the ground.

Jay jumped to her feet and lunged at Aundor. He dodged, moving to Jay's left, reaching one leg out to stomp on Jay's shadow. I reached down, grabbing my demon magic, and pulled Jay's shadow away. If Aundor couldn't touch Jay's shadow he couldn't work any magic on her directly. I could at least make this fight even.

I ducked on instinct as Jay spun, shifting her weight, and leaned back. She did a standing back flip, kicking the gun Aundor had just pulled, sending it flying into the air. Before Jay could land Aundor had pulled the other gun, firing a shot at Jay. The bullet grazed her leg. Aundor didn't seem very good at shooting.

I winced, feeling an echo of the pain shoot through my own leg. There was no bleeding, but I knew the type of pain Jay was feeling. Jay, however, reacted much better than I would have to a gunshot. She glanced down at the wound for a second, then adjusted her stance, putting less weight on that leg.

The gun that had been kicked into the air came down, Aundor catching it with ease, taking aim, and firing directly at Jay. She dropped to the ground, catching herself, as Aundor rushed forward.

“I'm an idiot.” I muttered, grabbing my staff and jumping out of Jay's shadow.

Aundor, no doubt surprised, stopped moving when he saw me stand up suddenly and swing my staff like a club. I hesitated for just a fraction of a second, not entirely sure if I wanted to swing at a human, then hardened my resolve.

But I wasn't fast enough. Aundor managed to duck and throw out an arm, his shadow reaching out and forming a solid barrier over him, my swing colliding with that instead of him.

Without pausing Aundor jumped forward, grabbing me and dragging me to the ground, forcing my staff out of my hand. Aundor's gloves, which he had never put back on his belt, filled with blue light. He didn't hesitate to start punching me while I was lying on the ground.

I lifted my hands up to block the punches before remembering I still had part of my staff in my pocket. I jammed my hand into the pocket and focused my will, tossing magic into the air on either side of me. I yanked the heat out of it and threw it towards Aundor, sending what was essentially sharp tipped ice wings in his face.

Aundor must have been expecting the ice to connect with him. He threw his hands up to protect his face, shadow rising as a secondary shield, but that hadn't been my plan. I pulled the short part of my staff out of my pocket and shoved the pointed end into Aundor's stomach. Aundor jumped back quickly, bleeding just a little as he knocked my staff out out of my hands, kicking it across the room as he stumbled.

“That won't work!” Aundor laughed, reaching into a pouch on his hip and pulling out bandages, which he quickly wrapped around his stomach. “You're only hurting your friend.”

Jay ran over and offered me her hand. I took it and she pulled me to my feet. I grabbed the bigger part of my staff and exhaled steam. The ice around me melted, though I didn't miss how ragged and unrefined my ice had looked. Barely usable runes meant barely controllable, I guess.

“We need a plan,” Jay whispered, looking around quickly as I dropped into her shadow.

A plan. Right, that's my job. Think, Orion, there had to be something around to help. I spun around, looking for something we could use to our advantage. There was nothing, nobody else, no objects, just a table and chairs. What was I supposed to do with this? The smaller part of my staff with my only combat magic was halfway across the room!

Jay dodged to the side and blocked a Hell-forged dagger with her Sky-forged dagger. Sparks flew, lighting up the area for a moment, before Aundor pulled himself up again and pulled another Hell-forged gun. I needed to slow down Aundor, somehow, give Jay enough time to do... something. Aundor didn't relent, dashing to Jay's side and firing the gun from short range before pulling a Hell-forged dagger.

When Aundor made his next strike, once again blocked by Jay, I reached my hand out of Jay's shadow and, reaching for my magic, snapped. The sound was loud, much louder than a normal snap should have been, and it echoed, but I got what I was looking for. As Aundor took a step his foot froze to the ground and he stumbled, falling on his face.

Jay dropped her Sky-forged dagger and jumped on top of Aundor, grabbing both his hands and pinning them to the ground. Not thinking, I jumped out of Jay's shadow, exhaling steam, covered my arm in my shadow, and reached into Aundor's shadow, trying to find his body. I couldn't find it.

But I did find a boot on my face, and then find myself several feet away, stars in my eyes, and my nose shooting white hot fire through my face. I had just been kicked in the face, and broke my nose. Again. Thanks to the magic in my head it was a distant pain.

I pushed through it, quickly shoving the pain and the magic out the same door in my mental library. Aundor had broken free of my ice trap, and had managed to throw Jay off him. But I hadn't accomplished nothing. I hadn't found Aundor's body, but I did accidentally leave enough of my magic in him to actually sense where he was. Or, where I was?

“That didn't work,” I mumbled, running up to Jay.

“What do we do? How do I knock the demon out?” Jay asked.

I didn't know how to knock Aundor out. Rejection was a surefire way, but that required a willing possession, and this was definitely forceful. A take over like this didn't leave a lot of options. Possession wasn't a real spell, either, so it couldn't be interrupted by the normal methods.

Aundor was suddenly in front of me, swinging a Sky-forged dagger. I ducked, Jay intercepting the blade with her Hell-forged dagger. Again, I heard the heavy gong of the two blades, and saw sparks fly. It set my teeth on edge.

I dived into Jay's shadow, once again possessing her. As I did I saw a visual representation of what I sensed. Aundor was glowing with a dull, red light, and when he moved his eyes left a trail of light behind him. Since I couldn't really feel anything in a semi-physical state like this, my magical awareness must have decided to work with my eyes this time.

This light trailed around Jay as Aundor ran through the room, drawing a pistol. This time Jay was ready, and was able to spin, ducking under the shot.

I thought about our options. How could I force Aundor out? Resonance, maybe? If being close to opposite blades hitting each other set my teeth on edge, then the same alignment should do a lot worse. It wasn't perfect, but it was worth a try.

“Sky-forged resonance!” I called out.

Jay reached for her belt, but didn't pull a dagger. I looked around quickly. Jay had dropped her dagger before, when she tried to hold Aundor in place. Where had it gone? There, it was lying on the ground a few feet away.

“A few feet back, on your left.” I said, moving to where the dagger was. “Here.”

“Fight him, Amanda!” Jay shouted out, diving for her dagger. “You're stronger than he is.”

“That's not going to work,” Aundor said calmly, appearing behind Jay and trying to step on her shadow.

“Not on my watch!” I called out aggressively, grabbing Jay's shadow and pulling it away. It didn't matter that Aundor couldn't hear me, I was frustrating him and that was enough.

Andor looked annoyed, but didn't try for a second step. He was too busy blocking Jay's onslaught. She threw slice after slice, attacking so fast that Aundor didn't even have time to pull out a second dagger. Jay forced him back, the loud screeching of Sky-forged weapons colliding piercing my ears and making my teeth ache.

“Big hit!” I shouted, hoping this would work. “Put all your magic into it!”

Jay let out a scream, dropping her dagger and pulling Regicide. She swung it with a reverse grip, blade fueled by Jay's magic, as Aundor raised his dagger to block. Jay turned her blade, the flat end making contact with as much of the dagger Aundor held as possible. I felt Jay shove all her magic forward, her cloak shining with stars, as giant blue ribbons arced out from between the two blades.

I covered my ears. The sound was intense, filling every part of my being with that high pitched screech. I forced myself to keep my eyes open and watched as Aundor's grip wavered, and the dagger fell from his hand.

Aundor had dropped his dagger on purpose, though. He grabbed the dagger with a forward grip in his other hand and stabbed Jay in the stomach. Neither of us had been expecting it, and Jay dropped her sword. The blade vanished before it hit the ground, leaving nothing but the hilt as it bounced away.

Jay fell to the ground, no longer able to stand with all her wounds. Aundor wasn't finished, though. He leaned down and grabbed Jay's neck with both his hands, squeezing.

“You're going to suffer!” He growled. “Nobody spites me and gets away with it.”

I jumped out of Jay's shadow, actually jumped, and swung my staff with a downward motion at Aundor. He lashed out with his magic, his shadow grabbing me in the air and throwing me behind him. I felt cold shadows wash over my arms and legs, pulling at the staff in my hand, but I wasn't about to let go of my magic that easily.

I kept my hand closed as my arm felt like it was about to freeze, shadows pulling at my fingers. I tried to think of some way to get free, but I had no idea where to even start, I had never dealt with someone using their shadow to lock me in place. What was I supposed to do?

How had Aundor used his magic before? He had been hiding as Sarissa's shadow, and then jumped to Amanda's and possessed her. Then he had been able to pull his shadow off the ground and use it as a weapon or a shield.

But it started with the shadows. So maybe his magic wouldn't work on me if I didn't have a shadow. I couldn't just get rid of it, that wasn't possible as long as there was light around. I could make more light, but that would only move my shadow. It would be a temporary solution, but it might work.

If I made a flare, though, Aundor would certainly be able to tell, and he could just move his shadow and I probably couldn't do more than get on my feet before the shadow dragged me back down. How was I supposed to out-think magic that worked on basic laws of the world?

Change the rules.

Aundor was over there controlling both a body and a shadow. I didn't know exactly how he was doing that, but I knew I was able to control my body even when I felt a magical disconnect from it. If I pushed that disconnect a little further then maybe I could control my shadow instead of my body.

I grabbed at my magic, feeling a cool breeze rush into my mind. I focused on pushing my magic into my shadow instead of the world around me. I took the magic fog that filled my mind, and the little me running around in there opened the door to let it all out.

Only this time I went with it.

My vision faded, and the sense of cold fingers grasping at my hand vanished. I suddenly felt a lot lighter, like a great weight I hadn't been aware of was removed. I couldn't see anything, but I could feel something soft below me. There was something soft above me, too. I knew this feeling. It was cloth. A coat that I had been wearing. Did I take it off?

I used my limbs to lift myself into a sitting position, moving around the large something that was above me. It was a jacket, with a green eyed Tolrand inside of it, clutching desperately at the staff in his hand as a shadow tried to rip it out.

I reached out one hand slowly, then saw my arm. It wasn't the dark gray of my jacket, or the purple of my fur, but solid black. I looked at the Tolrand on the ground, and felt a dim sense of recognition. That's right, that Tolrand was me. Green eyes, ears, a remote expression, but one filled with pain and annoyance.

The other shadow, Aundor's, was causing the pain and annoyance. Well, I was here, so I may as well get rid of it. I reached out with large hands and grabbed the shadow holding Orion down. I lifted it up and off him, and it came without resistance.

In what seemed like slow motion, Orion began to get up. He put one arm underneath him and slowly managed to get into a standing position. I saw where his boots touched the ground, and realized that I wasn't connected to him.

That was another issue, one I could easily fix. All I had to do was let go of the shadow in my arms, and reach out towards those boots.

I gasped in shock as temperature and pain shot back into my mind. The door slammed shut and I was thrown back into my mentally library, gasping for breath. I took a moment to breath and get myself balanced.

I was only dimly aware of what had just happened, it felt like a memory I was already forgetting. What I knew, though, was that I could move, and I had a job to do.

“Lucky.” I muttered in Script, suddenly exhausted, and moved my staff to my right hand. I moved towards Aundor, silently on the carpet, took a deep breath, grabbed my staff with both hands and swung, hitting Aundor in the head as I heard wood splinter and crack under the force.

Aundor slumped to the ground, shadow snapping back to connect with him, and he fell off Jay. I jumped over behind Aundor and coated both my hands in as much demon magic as I could pull out, my shadow wrapping itself around my arms up to my elbows. I grabbed the edge of Amanda's shadow and pulled, ripping it away. Once the shadow was off I lifted, suddenly finding my hands filled with Aundor, a Tolrand with solid black fur.

For a brief second I didn't know what to do. I wasn't sure I had expected to actually pull off Aundor. I know I hadn't expected to suddenly have another Tolrand in my arms, and the thought of what I might have to do next left me...

Hollow.

Aundor didn't say anything, but I felt as he tensed and his arms began to thrash.

I let him go, and he fell to the ground with an oddly light thump. I straddled his hips as he rolled over onto his back, and put my hands on his neck. His yellow eyes, the mark of a pure blood Tolrand, widened in realization, and his hands shot up to grab at my own throat. I tightened my grip on his throat as he squeezed at my own, a sickeningly strong pressure cutting off my air.

I felt something cold grasp at my shoulders, but I didn't look over. It was the same feeling as when Aundor's shadow had been covering my arm, but now it was trying to pull my arms off his neck. I kept my grip tight as the shadow swarmed over my body and yanked at my arms.

I focused on my shadow and felt a different, more comfortable, cold settle over me. This cold ran down my body from my arms, lifted Aundor's shadow off me, then threw it to the side as my shadow held his down. I could feel what my shadow was doing, sort of like I could feel how my tail was moving very slowly back and forth.

Aundor locked eyes with me, and I suddenly felt very tired. I was exhausted, I had done so much these past few days. I had been hurt, and captured, and put through hell by the humans. And now I was sitting on another Tolrand and trying to choke him as he tried the same to me. It wasn't worth it, I shouldn't be trying to kill another Tolrand.

I didn't move my hands, but I stopped squeezing Aundor's throat. I felt my magic leave my head, suddenly leaving me a lot warmer and uncomfortable. I tried to sigh, but found that something was stopping me.

It was my coat, I decided. My collar was too tight again, so I felt like I was choking. But that was okay, somebody was pressing something cool against me, and I was suddenly feeling a lot more comfortable. I blinked slowly, then reached up to undo the button at the top of my collar.

And that's when I realized Aundor was in my head.

The pressure on my throat doubled, and I found myself flat on my back, Aundor now on top of me, eyes locked with mine. If I had any time to spare, I might have been impressed with how subtle Aundor had been. If he had more time to prepare, or I had been a pushover mentally, I might have lost right there. Luckily, I had been in more than a few mental fights, but Aundor hadn't tried to fight me, he had just slipped right by without saying a word.

If Aundor wanted a psychic battle, I would give him one.


	36. Chapter 36

I filled my mind with as much magic I could, roughly shoving everything I could muster into my head. Then, eyes still locked with Aundor, reached out with my mind towards his. I found it easily, he was already in mine, so getting connected to his was simple.

With an effort of will I grabbed Aundor's mind with my own and did something resembling the way Jay had thrown Aundor over her shoulder earlier. When Aundor's mind hit the ground, though, we weren't in the meeting room at Cam's house anymore.

I had put us in a small battlefield. A solid dirt ground all around us, high stone walls, smooth and without feature, reached high into the air, and the sky burned a deep red, almost black clouds lazily drifting from one end of the arena to the other.

Without waiting to give Aundor any time to recover I made a veil and ran so that I was behind Aundor and to his left. Of course, I was near the wall while Aundor was near the center.

Aundor lifted himself off the ground and looked around. I felt a pressure in my head as he fought against my will to get back to his body. Unfortunately for him, I was a little too stubborn to give up from a little pressure. I'd keep him trapped here until...

I'd think of something.

“Orion.” Aundor said calmly, brushing dirt off himself. “Why are you doing this? Why are you helping a LeMonte?”

I didn't say anything. I focused on the pressure against my mind and keeping it as far away as I could. I needed to come up with a plan, something I could do to actually take out Aundor. All I had done by trapping him here with me was delay any real world action. I would have to figure out some way to stop Aundor from killing me in the real world, while also stopping him from trying to escape. Either of these tasks should have taken my full attention, but I needed both.

“This is our chance!” Aundor looked around, raising a fist for emphasis. “There's three of them here. The oldest and the newest are here, and that girl has such incredible magic. Imagine the good we could do if we took them!”

I shook my head. As much as I didn't like Jay or her crazy family, I wasn't going to be a part of this. I wasn't going to sit back and let Aundor do as he pleased with human lives. It wasn't my place to decide what to do with them, and it wasn't his either.

“Let me out, Orion!” Aundor shouted, the pressure in my head redoubling its efforts. “It's for the war! This victory won't let us win tomorrow, but it will guarantee us victory! The forgery trade will be ours, we can still win this!”

I put my hands to my head, covering my ears. I knew it wouldn't help, he was thinking directly into my mind, but I didn't want to hear it. I didn't want to listen to him talk about his plans to help demons. I didn't want him to convince me.

“You can't hold me here for long!” Aundor cried out, squinting as he looked around the arena for me. “You'll run out of air in a minute out there, and then you won't have anything left to stop me. This is your only chance to live!”

Maybe it was. Maybe it wasn't. I had been about to die for the last three days, I had come to terms with it at some point.

“Have it your way!” Aundor lifted one leg and stomped hard on the ground.

I built a solid construct, my little arena wasn't about to fall apart from one stomp. When backed by a strong will and a lot of magic, though, that was a different story. I had to shift my attention to making sure that the ground didn't suddenly break underneath us.

But Aundor hadn't been trying to break the ground. Or, maybe he had, but it worked out for him anyway. Some kind of shockwave came out from where Aundor stepped, and the whole ground rippled with it like a puddle of water when you drop a rock in it. I was focused on stopping anything from breaking, so when the shockwave hit me I wasn't prepared for it, and I fell to the ground.

I'm not sure what exactly gave me away, but Aundor knew where I was now, and wasted no time in charging at me. Once I realized this I lifted one hand, two fingers out, and pulled the ground up in front of me.

I felt more than saw Aundor try to stop, hands bracing against the wall as he turned and tried to move around one side to get to me. I scrambled to my feet and moved around the other side, then kept moving towards the center of the arena.

The pressure on my head lessened suddenly as a giant ball of fire hit the ground when I had been when I fell to the ground. Aundor had just launched a giant fireball at where I had been.

Fire was the worst option for me here. Normal rules to magic didn't apply, so he could throw around as much fire as he wanted without any worries about the temperature. Fire was also a massively destructive force, and since Aundor had thrown it out, he was the one who decided how much it would burn the world around him. I had to repair it.

So now I had to stop Aundor from breaking out of this psychic arena, figure out a way to stop him from killing me in the real world, repair any damage he did to the arena, and continue to dodge anything he threw at me. All he had to do was keep throwing around fire until he won.

I was on a clock, and nothing here was in my favor. I needed something to help me out, to take care of at least one of the issues. But what would help?

I turned my focus to the real world, grabbing a clear picture of what was going on, then turned back to the psychic landscape right as another gout of fire came straight at me. I lifted one hand to grab at the fire. It may have been Aundor's projection, but it was in my world, so I had the advantage.

I appropriated the fire with a small investment of magic, then directed it around me and threw it back at Aundor. With my other hand I made a gesture and forced my body in the real world to move. When the next blast of magic came at me I made a fist and pulled straight up, moving both my real body and dragging more of the ground up to block a giant blast of wind.

I kept my right hand in a fist and covered my face with my left as the wind moved around the wall and gusted at me. I might not have been light as a feather, but this gust of wind was strong enough to lift me off my feet and send me flying towards the arena wall.

Aundor's will slammed into my mind like a sledgehammer as I hit the wall, but I stopped him from breaking free. I fell to the ground and focused on my defenses, making sure Aundor was as trapped here as ever.

I guessed my veil had been blown off in the wind, Aundor was running at me again. I shook my head once, opened my right hand, and closed it again. This time, I felt something in my hand, and grinned.

With a swiping gesture from my left hand I turned and dashed to the right, keeping my hand closed. Next to me, a perfect replica of me turned and dashed to the left, also keeping their right hand closed. Aundor froze for a second, suddenly unsure which me to attack. I used that second to reach back into my real body and yank my hand as far as I could.

Back in my psychic arena, I fell to the ground, suddenly unable to hold myself up. My copy across the arena simply vanished, and I started gasping for breath. I caught myself on my hands and knees, and tried to lift myself, but couldn't even raise my head.

“Idiot.” Aundor said, walking slowly over to me.

Aundor's knee slammed into my face. If I hadn't blocked any and all physical senses from this realm, I probably would have felt an excruciating amount of pain. This time, though, I just fell to the side and stared up at Aundor, trying to catch my breath.

“You're out of air,” Aundor stared down at me, expression calm and remote. “You'll choke to death soon.”

I started shuddering. Then I sucked in air and my entire body was racked with laughter. I let out what I could only hope was a mocking laugh as Aundor stared at me.

“What's so funny?” He asked.

I moved my mouth, but didn't make any sound. Then I let out another laugh. Aundor leaned down close and asked again. I opened my green eyes fully and stared into Aundor's yellow.

“Us.” I said, and grabbed Aundor's throat with my left hand.


	37. Chapter 37

Back in the real world, I did the same thing. My left hand latched onto Aundor's throat, and I turned over so he was underneath me, right hand joining my left. In my psychic arena, Aundor and I went through the same motions. As my real hands squeezed, I kept my mental defenses focused on Aundor, on trapping his mind right where it was.

This close to him, both physically and in our heads, I could feel his thoughts. There was shock, then confusion, then what I could only guess was some kind of determination. Aundor raised his hand and pulled it towards him, I guessed it was a gesture for his shadow, but his real hand didn't move at all. I had Aundor locked in my mind, magic included.

I wasn't sure I could keep Aundor locked down for long, though. I needed to control both my physical body and keep an entire mind, one skilled in the art of psychic warfare, locked in my own, and I knew I couldn't do that for long. So I gave Aundor something else to focus on; exactly how I had beaten him.

Images flashed through my mind, and I saw myself from over my shoulder, in my little arena, reach out with my right hand and close it into a fist. Next to that image of me, my real body did the same thing, reaching out and grasping at nothing. Then both of me did it again, and this time I grabbed something, Aundor's tail.

And then both of me yanked on it. The mental Aundor I was dodging didn't move at all, but the real Aundor did. The real Aundor's expression stayed completely calm and removed, but his hands let go of my neck and he fell to the side. At the same time, the mental me fell to the ground and started gasping for breath. I was tired, no question about it, but I wasn't about to run out of magic in my own head, I was just suddenly able to breath and needed to mirror the action mentally.

Underneath me, the mental Aundor's expression changed, and I could feel his shock. He started clawing at my arms, and his mind rammed itself against mine, but neither had much force behind them. His cheeks started to puff up and he gasped for breath, and his hands made gestures to try and draw on his magic.

But it was too late. I had taken up a lot more time in the real world compared to in our heads. It was probably half a minute of us choking each other in the real world, but mentally it felt like minutes. By the time I showed Aundor I was choking him, he was almost out of air. And unlike me, he wasn't good enough at setting aside pain to do anything about it.

Actually, he wasn't handling this well at all. When I had lost to Lab, I knew I had lost, and I had accepted it. I admitted my defeat, and since I had no options left, let whatever came next happen. Aundor, on the other hand, was struggling down to the last second. I was able to easily disconnect myself from the idea of death. Why couldn't Aundor?

Was it because I was only half Tolrand? I wasn't supposed to have emotions, but I did. I also had a lifetime of separating myself from them. This close to death, Aundor must be experiencing something close to a fierce desire to live. He must not have the same practice at keeping emotions and desires out of his mind. If he did, he might have been able to escape.

I didn't win because I was stronger, Aundor would win in a battle of stamina or strength. I wasn't smarter, either, Aundor had done everything to defeat me flawlessly. I won because I was lucky enough to be born a mistake.

I stood my ground, mentally and physically, and watched Aundor slowly fade from life. His eyes slipped out of focus, and his hands fell off me. I didn't let up until the version of him in my arena started to fade, and the psychic me collapsed into him.


	38. Chapter 38

“L-let me help with that.” Cam said as she leaned down next to Jay.

“My stomach,” Jay gasped, still lying on the ground, utterly exhausted.

I blinked a few times, and shook my head. My eyes felt heavy, and my mind felt slow. I just had a psychic battle while getting choked by and choking Aundor. I could already feel a massive headache starting. Magical blow back and physical pain combined was going to be rough.

“I'll get started on it.” Cam pulled out her roll of bandages and set to work, talking with that shaky tone I used when I came down from adrenaline.

I stood up slowly, making sure I could hold my weight, and looked down at Aundor. A solid black Tolrand with yellow eyes and a knack for shadow magic. As he was now, he didn't cast a shadow.

“Orion.” Cam asked, looking over to me.

I slowly turned my head to look at her, but didn't say anything.

“Are you okay?”

“Yes.” I croaked, my voice hoarse. Right, getting choked would do that.

I made my way over to Cam and Jay and sat down heavily. I rubbed at my head, trying to sort through what I was feeling. I felt sluggish, like my thoughts and body were moving through honey.

“We really did a lot these past few days,” Cam said nervously, finishing Jay's bandages.

“I guess so,” Jay sighed. “I certainly feel like it.”

So it was over. That meant one of my debts was gone. I didn't feel any different, though. How much debt did I have left?

“How is everyone?” Jay asked, turning her head to Cam.

“Grant is gonna be fine.” Cam started. “I took care of him, but it wasn't anything serious. Sarissa is just shocked, and Amanda has some bruises but managed to bandage her own wounds when she woke up. My dad... I... I think he's gonna be okay.”

Right, time had passed. Once I left my mind I hadn't moved, my body felt locked in place. I couldn't have said how long I sat there before Cam came over.

“We did it,” Jay said tiredly, “we took down all four demons. I guess we're free.”

“We?” Cam asked. “Who else is free?”

“All of us,” Jay laughed. “My Trial is done, you get your life back, and Orion hit that last debt by saving my life at the end.”

I nodded. “You knew the whole time, didn't you?”

“I know a lot about demons.” Jay grinned. “Why do you think everyone calls you a pet? Tolrand are the only demons with a life debt system, but you're free now, I'm letting you go.”

That was three. I had forgotten about Nol, but I had saved her life there, and against Aundor just a few minutes ago, and then she said it was over. That was all my debt even without the game being complete, I was free.

“How do you feel?” Jay asked, sitting up. “I saw what you did to that demon at the end.”

I looked over to Aundor's body. I had torn him out of his odd possession, and then killed him. I had been directly responsible for the death of four demons, one of which I had almost killed, the last of which I actually did. I had killed Aundor while I trapped his mind in my own.

“I don't.” I replied, reminding myself that I was a Tolrand. I didn't have emotions, I shouldn't be feeling anything right now. And I wasn't. I was just hollow.

“Shock,” Jay said, “you'll feel something eventually.”

I blinked in response, but didn't say anything. I instead began thinking on my mistakes. I hadn't acted when I first saw Aundor, if I had things might have turned out differently. Cam's father and Grant might not have gotten shot, and I might not have had to kill Aundor myself if I had just spoke. I couldn't know what would have been different, and I couldn't change the past.

“In a few weeks, when I'm all better and have some distance, I might not hate these memories.” I said, not very convinced of it but saying it anyway.

“Quite the team we made,” Jay laughed. “A demon, a LeMonte, and the daughter of the forgery trade.”

“I don't think we'll be working together again any time soon,” I said, Cam nodding.

“I don't have the heart for this,” Cam agreed, “I thought I did but... I just want to make new tech.”

“And my Trial was the last for me,” Jay sighed, “I don't plan on fighting anymore.”

“Sad to hear it.” Grant said.

Amanda and Grant walked over, both of them supporting each other to walk. With a little help they sat down next to Cam. We sat in a rough circle, divided by our groups. I was fine with that, though. I was close enough to jump into Jay's shadow if either of her relatives did something scary. Not that I had the energy to do that right now.

“You fought well,” Amanda added, adjusting the bandages on her head. That was my fault.

“Thank you.” Jay smiled, looking away. Maybe she didn't handle praise all that well.

“How did you figure out there was a demon in Sarissa's shadow?” Grant asked Jay.

“Her shadow didn't move when I mentioned an older target,” Jay said.

“How did you take him out?” Amanda asked. “Neither of us saw it.”

“Not me,” Jay jerked her thumb at me, “him.”

I didn't react as all eyes turned to me. In retrospect I should have expected something like this to happen. Maybe I had been hoping Jay would have taken the credit.

“So he is your pet.” Grant laughed.

“I am not a pet,” I glared at Grant, forcing fake emotion to my face.

“I chased you earlier,” Amanda said. “How did you get away?”

“Oh...” I trailed off, looking away.

Amanda tilted her head and waited for a response. I took a deep breath, making sure my voice was steady. Easy does it.

“I hid in a crate,” I said. “held my breath until you were gone.”

“Clever.” Amanda said.

“Yes.” I nodded. “I hit you in the head, then pulled Aundor out. Then...”

I didn't finish, but I did hold my hands out in front of me and tense them. Nobody pressed me.

“Who was that person you mentioned?” Sarissa asked, walking over and kneeling next to Cam. “The one who talked about me?”

“Demon.” Jay said. “One I took down earlier. He didn't actually talk about you, though.”

“Did... did they kill my friends?”

Jay paused before answering. “Not all of them. Gillian and Samuel were gone before we got there. Bryce is still alive, but he might not be happy with that. We... found some incriminating stuff in his house.”

Sarissa nodded slowly. “At least some of us survived. Thank you. Not just for saving my life, but for taking out the demons who killed my friends.”

“It was mostly this guy.” Again, Jay pointed to me.

“I didn't do much.” I said flatly.

“A demon killing demons,” Sarissa commented, “what a crazy world we live in.”

I blinked. Here I was, a demon, sitting around three LeMontes and not being hunted. Even if it was just for a moment, it was nice to not be worrying about my life and well being.

“So, it's all over, huh?” Jay asked, falling back to the ground.

“You'll have to tell us all about your Trial once we get home,” Amanda said, “I want to hear it all.”

“It's a long story.” Jay sighed, then looked at Cam. “I'll need help telling it.”

“I should stick with my dad.” Cam looked down. “He might need me these next few days.”

“I can help him.” Sarissa said. “You should take some time for yourself.”

Cam started to say something, but closed her mouth, then just nodded. Jay turned to me. Again, I noticed all eyes were on me. Truth be told I didn't want anything more to do with this crazy family.

“In the LeMonte household?” I asked. “It's dangerous enough sitting right here.”

“You're basically a LeMonte,” Grant told me, “once we get you a collar, of course.”

“I am not wearing a collar.” I said flatly.

“We can put a jade in it.” Amanda winked.

“I am not wearing a collar!” I said, louder.

“You won't have to worry about getting hurt this time.” Jay laughed.

I sighed. “Fine. What's one more life or death situation?”


	39. Chapter 39

I walked at the back of our small group as we moved slowly through the city. Grant and Amanda were at the front, talking about getting a car to at least take them to the entrance to the city. Cam and Jay were talking about the spider. It may have been creepy, but it had been useful when it counted. I walked at the back, with a flat expression on my face. What a wonderful couple of days.

I shivered, turning my head to the right. I glanced down, and saw another shadow next to mine, gently pulling me forward. It was a shadow very similar to mine, ears and a tail, and when I got closer to the alley it was pulling me towards I saw Scarlet. I didn't resist as I walked over.

“Very impressive.” She said in Script as I approached, actually purring.

“Everything got wrapped up.” I said flatly, also in Script.

“You're not going to brag about it?” She raised an eyebrow.

“Brag about what?” I asked quietly. “I nearly died every day, and I just killed my opposite. Aundor worked shadows, I worked light on illusions. Not exactly a cause for celebration.”

“Maybe not,” Scarlet nodded, “but you made some friends.”

“No,” I said firmly, “I want nothing to do with the LeMonte family from here on out.”

Scarlet laughed. It was a pleasant enough sound to hear.

“Why did you do it?” I asked, staring Scarlet in the eyes. “Why have me take down another Tolrand. We're barely fertile as it is.”

“Because Raven asked me to,” Scarlet said, “and you would have done it, anyway. Your LeMonte was going after him no matter what.”

“Maybe...” I trailed off, “but I would have done it differently.”

“Oh?”

I nodded.

“There's someone I want you to meet.” Scarlet said when I didn't continue, turning the corner and gesturing for someone to approach.

Was it the Raven she had just mentioned? I leaned over to see who it was. I froze when I saw them. It wasn't anybody I recognized personally, but I knew them by reputation.

“War.” I whispered.

Standing next to Scarlet was a shadowy figure. He was a little taller than me, but he was cloaked in shadow and cast none. He had glowing red eyes that were more slits than anything else, and everything about him said power. I couldn't say what else he looked like, it was all covered in moving shadows.

“You two know each other?” Scarlet asked.

“We've never met.” War's deep voice resonated through my head.

“To what do I owe the honor of meeting a demon lord?” I asked, my voice completely void of emotion. Demon lords were the most powerful demons in the world. There were only seven of them, each one named after something that represented their skills. Nobody knew who they really were, and whenever they made a public appearance they always looked like War did now, albeit with some variation. Simply seeing a demon lord was considered an honor. I was speaking to one.

“I want to see what the demon who ruined my plans looks like,” War said, “but I can't say I'm impressed.”

“Ruined your plans?” I asked. “Had I known I would not...”

“Yes, you would.” Scarlet interrupted me. “You were bound to see this through.”

She had me there. I was bound to Jay from the start. If she wanted my help doing this, I was going to do it regardless of how I felt or what I knew about it. I said nothing. I had nothing else I could say.

War sighed. “I've heard enough. Scarlet, was it? I request that you don't get lesser demons involved in my business again.”

“As you wish, my lord.” Scarlet said, bowing slightly.

“Orion, hmm?” War turned to me. “I'd give you one star, and that's being generous. Bound to a human the whole time. Pathetic.”

War turned and walked around the corner. Everybody thinks they're clever.

“I think he likes you.” Scarlet said, nodding at me.

“What was that?” I asked. “How did you get a demon lord here? Why was he talking to you like an equal? Who are you?”

Scarlet threw back her head and laughed. “A conversation, because he wants to be, because he can, Scarlet. Did I get all your questions?”

I couldn't think of a response. Just who was Scarlet?

“You've made it past the first round.” Scarlet said, turning away from me. “And your interview went well. We'll be in touch.”

I tried to follow Scarlet as she turned around the same corner, but couldn't move. When I looked around I saw Scarlet's shadow was holding mine in place. With a flick of its tail the shadow let go, then dashed around the same corner. I didn't follow.

“Orion!” Jay called out to me. “Are you coming?”

“Yes!” I called back, walking quickly towards jay.

There was a fifth player, a mastermind behind the whole game. It wasn't Aundor, and I doubted it was War. Something told me Scarlet was a lot more than she pretended to be.


End file.
